//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 (Bryan) // Story: Raising the Reborn // by Liquid Ice //------------------------------// Raising the Reborn Chapter 2: Bryan's Perspective. I made up a couple little beds out of blankets for the tired ponies, and put them all to sleep. Well, I put them to sleep after a few hours of struggling. You would think when something is tired they would just fall right to sleep. Anyway, after I did get them to sleep, I realized how peaceful they looked, but all I could think about was how much money I would be making off of them; stacks and stacks of money. I know it sounded greedy, but when you find a gold mine, it's hard not to start digging away at it. It was the perfect way to get money. Who doesn't want a job where all you do is sit there and watch the money roll in? I know I did. Babies don't sleep as well as I did that night. • • • • The next morning I was forced awake by the crashing of something in the kitchen. "Oh crap!" I thought out loud. I leaped out of bed and darted to the kitchen faster than an Olympic runner. My parents were away for the week to celebrate their anniversary; they would be back in two days. So if there were a bunch of broken things all around the house I would probably be accused of hosting a huge party or something. I slowed my pace as I arrived at the disaster scene that used to be my kitchen. I could hardly breathe at the sight of the pint sized rainbow pony flying all around, and Rarity knocking down all our plates off the counter and smashing them on the ground. "Hey!" I yelled. They immediately stopped what they were doing, and looked at me. "What are you doing!?" Rainbow walked up to me. She had a dish towel in her mouth and a smile on her face. "Give me that." I said reaching for the towel. As I got closer, she moved her head more and more away from my hand, until she was running away from me. "Rainbow!" I yelled. She stopped. It was almost like she knew her name, but she didn't seem to know she knew she did. She turned around with a confused expression. I walked up to her and yanked the towel out of her mouth. By this time Rarity had already scampered away. I wasn't sure how to punish a pegasus; I hadn't really thought about it. So I thought the best thing to do would be to tie down her wings. She didn't like that idea at all. She struggled and yanked herself all over the house, causing even more destruction then before until she tired herself out. That pony liked to run, that was for sure. I spent a few hours getting the kitchen back to perfection, and after I was done I sat down on the couch in my living room. "Why am I doing this?" I asked myself, "If I need to replace every item in this house then I won't have any money left for myself anyway." I was just about ready to go find a box to ship all the ponies away in, but then I looked over at another chair in my living room and found a reason to keep them. Sitting in the chair was Cadence, with her long, soft wing over Apple Bloom; trying to comfort her because of all the noise from the kitchen. Even though she was just slightly bigger than the others (just by about half a foot) I knew she was the oldest. I realized right then that even if they couldn't talk, they had some emotion. "These things are freaking adorable." I thought. I heard a loud smashing noise from downstairs. I thought it was about time to move them to the water tower. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Getting four ponies to a water tower at the top of a mountain is not an easy task. There was a lot of pushing, pulling, yelling, and lifting involved, but we made it. The water tower was old and rusty. It sat on the ground, but there was no graffiti on it, because what kind of idiot would climb to the top of a mountain to vandalize something no one would ever see? There was a broken ladder running up the side of it and a big crack running down. But most importantly, the door had a rusty lock on it and could be easily opened. I rammed my shoulder into the side of it, breaking the lock off. I'm not going to lie, it hurt like hell, but the door was open. Rarity sniffed around like a drug sniffing dog, looking as disgusted as any pony could. Every now and then she would look back at me, as if to say, "Really?" I felt insulted for a moment, but then I realized the place was a bit of a dump, and because they were just animals, I knew that they would learn to live with it. Suddenly, Rarity was running out the door. I ran after her, "Rarity! Rarity!" I called, but she was too fast. It was like trying to catch a deer. I did chase her for five minutes or so all the same, but I realized it was pointless and headed back. I looked up and saw that dark clouds had started gathering. I ran back to the tower, knowing it was the closest thing I would get to shelter. I did get a little wet along the way, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The whole floor of the water tower was just dirt now, and fortunately for the ponies, there was an overhang over the crack in the wall. It meant that sunlight could get in, but water couldn't. I rushed into the room, panting like a golden retriever. Cadence, Applebloom, and Rainbow looked at me, their big eyes asking me if Rarity was okay. "What?" I asked. Rainbow took a step closer to me. "What is it Rainbow?" The tension in my voice was growing. "What!?" I finally screamed at her. This frightened all the ponies. They braced themselves against the walls, as far away from me as they could. I looked at their terrified faces, their heads turned away, and their eyes closed as tight as they could get them. All of them felt genuinely terrified of me, and I could tell. "No..." I tried to explain, "I... I'm sorry." When I got closer, they turned away more. "I'm... I was just... I... didn't mean to." Applebloom began to cry. "No. No. Applebloom." I said sympathetically, getting closer to her. "I didn't mean anything by it." I sat down and began petting her. "You know, there's nothing to be afraid of. I was just a little stressed." I went on explaining like they could understand me, "When Rarity took off, I got really upset. I don't know if she'll ever be back. And then I lashed out on you guys. I'm sorry." Rainbow Dash was pretty excepting, so she was the first to walk up to me. She smiled and snuggled her head into my lap. Cadence then realized I wasn't going to hurt her and walked over to me as well. Just from looking at her, watching how she acts, and how she gets along with the other ponies, I could tell that Cadence was the most caring of all the ponies. At least that I had. She didn't seem to want to cause trouble, or make life hard for anyone. She just seemed to want to help others. I saw that in Rainbow as well, but in a different way. She always wanted to help but couldn't quite figure out how. "See? It's okay. I'm not gonna hurt you." The door was still open. I couldn't help staring out it, hoping that Rarity would find her way back. I didn't know why the others didn't run off when I yelled at them. The opportunity was there but they didn't go. I looked at the ponies around me, and I figured it out. They stayed for Applebloom. They didn't want to just leave her behind. As insane as it sounds, I thought that (maybe) these ponies had a bit more emotion than an average animal. They obviously weren't average. I mean, wings and horns? Flight and magic? I have no idea why I believed for even a second that these creatures had anything average about them at all. A few hours later, I had fallen asleep in the water tower. I was awoken by a banging noise on the door. "Oh no." I thought. I had three magical ponies in a huge metal cylinder. Where was I going to hide them? I decided to just go to the door and except my fate. I yanked the door open. Standing out in the rain was a white unicorn with a purple mane. She was dragging a huge pile of leafs and soft plants with the magic from her horn. She was pulling it with all her might. There was a soft blue glow surrounding it all. The little pony herself was soaking wet and very muddy. "Rarity?" I asked. Without even acknowledging me, she trotted past me and started arranging the plants into four piles. She was making beds for the four of them. I watched in awe. It's not every day that you see a magical pony arranging leafs for other's comfort. Actually, it's not every day that you see a magical pony, but I was slowly getting used to that. Rarity poked her nose at the others, trying to tell them about the new beds. They quickly got the memo and made their ways to their new found comfort. One by one, each of them closed their eyes and fell asleep, except for Cadence. "What's wrong?" I asked. Her gaze was unbroken. "You must be deep in thought." I concluded. My talking must have woken up Rarity, because she stood up and walked over to Cadence. Rarity nudged Cadance with her nose, and looked at her. Cadance looked down at Rarity in mild surprise. Rarity then tilted her head sideways, almost as if asking what was wrong. Cadance shook her head slightly, and nudged Rarity back to her bed. Rarity pouted slightly, but walked grudgingly back to her bed. Even though I could tell Cadance was barely older than Rarity, and they were all pretty much babies, Cadance still acted as the mother of the group. “Maybe it’s because she’s a pegacorn…” I mused. Cadance closed her eyes and settled back down. I sat there, wondering what to do. I only knew one thing; I could not let myself get attached to these creatures. They were my fortune; my adorable, fluffy, sleeping fortune. If I hadn't seen anything like them, neither had the rest of the world. And if the world didn't know anything about them, then all the money would come to me. "But maybe..." I thought, "maybe I could get attached to them and keep all the money. No." I rethought, "If I get attached to them then I'll feel way too guilty for keeping all the money for myself, and perhaps even one day selling them." I had made up my mind (but not for the last time) "I wonder how the others are doing." I asked myself. "Well, Ty can't be doing that great." I laughed to myself, "He's got two pegasuses… pegasi... pegapeople... whatever, he's got two of them. I can't even imagine what hell he's going through." After a bit more thought I realized how easy it must have been for Joe. He only had one unicorn and one pegacorn, and in the end, less money. I braced my back up against the wall and started falling asleep. Then I felt a tugging on my shirt. I quickly opened my eyes. Standing in front of me was Cadence. She was making a motion with her head trying to tell me to trade places with her and sleep in her bed. "No Cadence," I said, "There's only room for you in that bed." She tugged on my shirt again. "Cadence, I said no." Cadence turned away, sad for a moment. Then she turned back. I closed my eyes again, hoping it would make her just walk away. But she didn't walk away. She slowly made her way to me and laid her head in my lap. I opened my eyes again. I couldn't help smiling at her.