//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 (Ty, Bryan, Joe) // Story: Raising the Reborn // by Liquid Ice //------------------------------// Two days later. Bryan’s POV: Joe and I sat on the couch watching our ponies play on the floor in front of us. “Wow, your ponies are lame.” I said to Joe, mostly just to piss him off. “What!? My ponies aren’t lame! Your ponies are lame!” “Sorry Joe, but my ponies can fly, use magic, and one can do both. Yours suck.” “Well one of mine can fly and use magic. Plus I have a baby unicorn.” “Joe, I could punt your unicorn over the balcony right now.” “You could if you did sports.” He had a point. “You don’t do sports either Joe.” But my point was better. We didn’t say much after that. We just watched our ponies roll/run/hop/explore around the floor. We were waiting for Ty to get here. He always managed to be late when we met up. Without him it was just sort of awkward. “What have you been doing over the past week? “ Joe beat me to question that makes you not have to talk. “Well, I took the ponies into the woods a bit. I had to put a collar on Rainbow because she kept trying to run off.” “Why?” Joe asked. “Why did she run off?” “Why did you take them out into the woods?” I honestly didn’t know the answer to this question. In all honesty it was probably because I was becoming attached to them. But I couldn’t tell him that. “I figure, I couldn’t get much money out of them if they were out of shape.” Give me an Oscar, and let me thank the academy. “Anyway,” I continued, “other than Rarity’s compulsion to be constantly rearranging the beds for everyone, I don’t think much has happened in my little world. What about you Joe?” “Well Celestia has been having a heyday with fire.” “As in Celestial has been burning all the hay?” I joked. “CelestIA.” “What?” “It’s Celestia, not Celestial.” “Whatever.” We heard the doorbell ring, and so did all the ponies. All of them stopped in their tracks. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ty’s POV: I rang the doorbell, and then just decided to go in. It was my friend’s house, and they were expecting me, so I don’t think they’ll mind. I opened the door and walked in. Luna was in my arms, the other three followed behind me. In the three days I’ve had them, I must admit I’ve become quite attached to them and them to me. I walked into the living room, and saw Joe and Bryan sitting on the couch with their ponies sitting on the floor looking at me. Applejack and Applebloom were in one corner, Pinkie was with them, as well as Sweetie Bell. Rainbow was sitting closest to me, and immediately brightened up upon seeing me. Celestia was in the middle of the floor, glaring at Rainbow Dash, with Cadance sitting next to Bryan and watching Celestia with a worried expression. I walked over to the couch, and gently laid Luna down on it. Every night I’ve been staying up an hour later than normal so I can spend time with her, but I can tell how bored and lonely she is. Scootaloo went up to Applebloom and Sweetie Bell, and sat by them. Fluttershy followed her, and sat nearby while keeping a watchful eye on her. Twilight walked randomly around the room, taking everything in. I sat down on the couch next to Luna, and Rainbow immediately jumped up and sat by my side. “Hey guys, what’s going on?” “Nothing much,” Joe replied, “Except that Bryan has been insulting my ponies.” “Well they are kind of lame.” I said. “That’s what I said!” Bryan exclaimed. I chuckled and then asked in a more serious tone, “So, what are we going to do? The first day of school is tomorrow. How will we keep our ponies safe while we’re gone? Thankfully our school only goes two days a week, but we’ll still need to figure out what to do with them.” It really was a lucky break that we all went to the same private school. The Garden School only runs two days a week, but they make up for it with massive homework. Bryan contemplated for a moment, then spoke. “Well, Joe and I are set because we have a safe place away from home to keep our ponies. What I’m worried mostly about is when are we going to begin marketing them? We’ve waited long enough I think.” Bryan did have a point. If we ever are going to make some money off them, why wait until later? “Are you guys sure your parents won’t find your ponies?” I asked them both. Bryan confidently nodded his head, but Joe seemed to be lost in thought for a moment. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Joe’s POV: Crap… that’s right… school starts tomorrow; I can leave them in the forest. Right? Yeah, of course I can. Except for- No they’ll be fine… I didn’t really know why my brain was putting up such a fight against me leaving them in the forest until one of the little voices said: Remember the dog? Yeah, the dog, but that was eight years ago! There is no way she could remember. No way… “Joe!” Ty shouted bringing me out of my head. “What?” I asked, a bit mad at him for yelling at me. I heard a small whimper from the corner and saw Fluttershy sitting next to Cadence, nuzzling her head into Cadence’s side as Cadence draped her wing over Fluttershy, and in the most motherly fashion sent a blood chilling glare at me and Ty. “Look what you did now Ty. You scared Fluttershy.” I joked, adding a little rhyme just to get on his nerves. I got a sore shoulder for that... “Do you have a place for the ponies?” Ty asked, accenting every word. “Yes.” I am a terrible liar. And Tyler knew it, but let it drop all the same. “Now that Joe’s abuse is over can we please figure out how to get our money?” Yep, that’s good old Bryan, even minded and down to the point. “I have no idea.” Tyler announced. “Maybe an internet page?” I said, thinking it was a fantastic idea. “No.” “Agreed, and do you even know how to make a web page, Joe?” Bryan accused. “No…” I dejectedly hung my head in fake shame, but came back with. “Do you?” “Well…” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Bryan’s POV: "First off, it's called a webpage Joe. Secondly, I was thinking about maybe putting an ad in the paper." It made sense to me. Tyler and Joe laughed at the idea... Technically Joe laughed and Tyler smirked. Tyler didn't do a whole lot of ‘laughing’. "What? It's a good idea." I reasoned. "Does anyone even read newspapers anymore?" Joe asked. "That's the whole point. It's gotta be cheap to put stuff in the paper now, and if only a few people see it first, the word will spread like wildfire." Okay, math time. In Glenwood, where Joe and I both live, there is a population of 9,594, which is not a lot. The average population for a city in the US is about One-million. Where Tyler lives, in silt (a few miles down the road) there is a mere population of 2,925. 9,594 + 2,925 - 3 = 12,516. That's only 12,516 people who need to hear about this. And with the 100 people who will actually read the ad, about ten might respond. However, if each of those ten people told their friends about what they saw, 75% won't believe them, but the 25% will. That doesn't mean that the 75% won't want to go check it out for themselves; quite the opposite actually. The 75% will either, a. Have to know if it's true or not b. get dragged over there by the friends who do believe Don't forget about families also. With all these calculations, we can determine that we will have one of the most popular attractions in town, and that (of our population) about 9,001 will come see it. Not to mention tourists. It was the perfect plan. "What?" Tyler asked. "How would a newspaper bring in thousands of people?" "I have my logic behind it, just trust me." I said not wanting to explain all that to them. Joe and Ty shrugged in agreement. We didn't know what to say after that. On a typical day that we have an agenda to fill, we spend a few hours procrastinating, and then a couple minutes afterwards doing real work. This time it happened so fast we were just kinda stuck. Then a thought struck me. "Where are we going to show these at?" I asked. "Because I don't want a few thousand people coming through my house." "We could show them at a park." "Shut up Joe, the adults are working." I said joking. "Yeah Joe, a park is way too public." Reassured Tyler. "It was just an idea." Said Joe. "Joe, your ideas are bad and you should feel bad." I barked back. I didn't like memes too much, but I just said them compulsively. "I hate you guys." "Hate you too Joe." Said Tyler. And with that, we all fell back into silence. Twilight apparently got bored of wandering around, and trotted over to Ty. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ty's POV: “Hey Twilight, what’s up?” I said while smiling, not expecting her to answer of course. Twilight smiles, looks up, and says: “Fan?” Bryan, Joe and I stared at Twilight. None of us knew what to say. Twilight, after seeing our disbelieving stares, slowly lost her smile. “Did I do… bad?” Twilight said with tears beginning to form in her eyes. Seeing her tears snaps me out of my stupor. I reach down and pull into a hug. “No, no, you did great. Good job!” Twilight hugged me back, and then hopped down to the floor. “Good. I did good!” She proudly stated to the various ponies scattered on the floor. “Well, that’s interesting…” I said… “Now what?” Joe and Bryan just stared at me, still dumbfounded by Twilight’s words. “Well… we can’t sell them or use them as attractions. I won’t have it.” I said to them. I look down at Twilight. “I don’t care about money any more. They are intelligent. Quite frankly, I’ve grown attached to my ponies. After this, more so.” Bryan nodded his head. “I do kinda like them...” “Same here…” Joe agreed. Bryan shook his head. “Not worth it.” I frowned, “What do you mean?” Bryan responded, “They’re just not worth keeping.” “Even after finding that they are intelligent?” I incredulously ask. “Since they are intelligent, they will sell for even more.” “Alright then, fine. You can do what you want with yours, but I’m not going to sell mine.” Rainbow Dash, who was still lying next to me, looked at Bryan in shock. She then scooted closer to me. “I think she understands you. You should reconsider.” I said. “Whatever.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Bryan’s POV: I felt rather heartless saying that, but I was trying to keep a closed mind. I had a tendency to be far too nice, so this was my chance to prove that I could be obstinate as anyone else. In all honesty, I would have given anything to keep those furry little ponies. They were just so sweet and lovable... I mean... er... um... DIRT! MONSTER TRUCKS! F*** YEAH! We now return you to our regularly scheduled program. "If you guys don't want to make any money off this, that's cool. But when I'm rollin' in it, I'll be laughing until the cows go home." I said. “But... Why are being so cold? You can’t really want to sell them?” Joe said. "Money, Joe. Money. It's that thing you don't have any of." I smirked "You know, because you don't have a job. QED no money." "Yeah, Bryan. I got it." "How can you even say no to these things" Tyler asked me. It was really hard coming up with a good answer to that. The pause was a bit more uncomfortable than I would like. "Because fortune seems like the better answer." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Joe’s POV: “Depends on the kind of fortune you’re talking about.” I was still steaming over that snide little comment Bryan had said earlier. “Because if you’re talking about luck and good fortune at finding a species that nobody has seen since ancient Greece. I would completely agree with you.” I knew that Bryan wasn’t talking about that kind of fortune but I needed to rub his face into what he would miss if he sold them. “Joe, I meant fortune as in wads of money.” “Oh, sorry. If that’s the case you can have all the normal average everyday money you want. Because nobody has that. So go sell your little helpless ponies to someone who will stuff them and hang them on the wall of their bedroom. You do realize that if you sell them, in all likelihood they will die. Either they will be taxidermy statues or the research of some college science lab. Not that you care about something like that, because you will have your mountain of money to go to sleep on.” It might have been cruel of me to say something like that, but Bryan needed to understand what he was talking about. I looked around the room at all the scared ponies and couldn’t help feeling sorry for them. I had known Bryan for a long time now, and I knew that if he set his mind to something he wouldn’t change it. I looked in the faces of Rainbow Dash, then Rarity and Cadence, but it wasn’t until I looked into the eyes of little Applebloom that my gut wrenched in my chest. She couldn’t have been older than two years. And yet plans for her death were already being made. I looked up at Bryan, my face twisted up in anger. Sure we were all about to exploit them for profit, but at the mention of intelligence all of that should have changed. It’s moments like this that I lose hope for mankind. The look on Bryan’s face was changing so fast that it was hard to keep up with. Flashing from anger to fear, sadness to surprise. Eventually it settled on a look of shock and he just stared at me. “Wow.” Tyler said, surprised at my rant. His surprise isn’t that hard to understand, you see I usually just let things go and argue for things I don’t really care about. I hadn’t had a all out rant like that ever since I was in the principal’s office four years back and started yelling at him because he said my essay dealt with racial stereotypes. Needless to say I got expelled. But because of that I came to the Garden School and I have been calm tempered ever since. Bryan looked at me still shocked and was about say something but I cut him off. “Bryan, sleep on your decision tonight and tell me what you decide after school tomorrow. If you still want to sell them I won’t stop you.” Before he could respond I rounded up my ponies and took them to my car. Trying not to think about the consequences of my words I started the engine and headed back to my house. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tyler’s POV: Bryan and I stared at the door as Joe slammed it shut on his way out. We heard his engine rev, and he drove off. I looked at Bryan. “While I realize this is an oxymoron coming from me, you can really be a jerk sometimes.” Bryan said nothing. “You don’t want to sell them. You said that just to be stubborn.” He remained silent. We sat for a moment, watching as our ponies began acting normally again. They all seemed slightly perturbed though, especially Twilight. “She knows how to speak... I wonder how much of that conversation she understood?” I thought. I called to her. “Twilight, come over here a moment.” She looked confused, but she slowly trotted over. I opened my mouth to speak, but she beat me to it. “Um... what... die?” All the ponies looked at me, and even Bryan glanced over. I sighed. “It’s nothing. I’ll tell you later, okay?” She slowly nodded her head. “Okay... he mad at me?” “No, no. Of course not sweetie.” I reached down, picked her up, and set her on my lap. She snuggled into my chest and I held her as thoughts of the future raced through my mind. “This complicates things. With them being intelligent, it’ll be harder to hide them. Can the others speak, or just Twilight? She always was the most inquisitive, so I’m not really surprised she talked first. But why hasn’t Luna talked before now? She’s bigger than Twilight, so I assume she’s older. Oh, right. Only being up at night, she doesn’t hear much talking.” I looked over at Luna sleeping to my left. Perfectly still except for the rise and fall of her chest. “I’ll need to spend more time at night with her, teaching her to talk. Twilight can talk remarkably well, but I’ll have to teach her and the others as well.” I let go of Twilight, and sensing my intention, she hopped off my lap and back onto the floor. I scooped Luna up in my arms and looked at Bryan. “Apologize to Joe. Give him a day to cool off, we can’t afford to be divided.” “Fine.” He said, not wanting to give in. I began walking towards the door, and Fluttershy nudged Scootaloo to follow me. Scootaloo laid down on the carpet and refused to budge. Fluttershy gave a quiet sigh, and picked Scootaloo up by the scruff of her neck using her teeth. Just like a mother cat and her kitten, Fluttershy followed me to the door. It was adorable and comical at the same time, due to Scootaloo only being a little smaller than Fluttershy herself. Twilight was by the door waiting for Fluttershy to get there. Once she did, I opened the door and felt a tug at my pants leg. I looked down and saw Rainbow Dash sitting there, looking at me with pleading eyes. I glanced up at Bryan, who was looking at Rainbow with a sad frown. “Can I take her for the next few days until we meet again?” I quietly asked. “Why?” I smiled at Rainbow and opened the door. Bryan understood. She beamed up at me, and raced to my truck. I looked back at Bryan. He was staring off into the distance, not looking at anything in particular. He must really have regretted what he said. We’ll see each other at school tomorrow, so that’ll be his chance to apologize. I walk out to my truck and open the passenger door. Gently laying Luna down into the passenger seat, I usher the other ponies in the seats behind. Fluttershy drops Scootaloo into one, and takes the other. Rainbow and Twilight both stand up and look out the windows. I gently close the door, and open the driver’s side. I turn the truck on and drive home, wondering if I’ll really be able to succeed in keeping my ponies a secret.