//------------------------------// // Unstrung Hero // Story: Daddy Discord // by KingofSquirrelz //------------------------------// Brave got off the train with the lilac mare and tiny purple dragon, he followed them in tow as they entered Ponyville Station.  He took a minute to admire his surroundings.  Being a small town train station there was not many ponies on the train, the main area of the station smelled of sulfur and burning oil.  The stone platform was a light grey color, and even had yellow paint marking the danger zones of the train.       “C’mon Brave move it, or lose it.” said Spike as he scooted ahead of Brave trying anxiously to get home for whatever reason.     Brave gave a quick nod as he trotted over to Twilight and Spike, taking note of the sounds he made as he walked across the wooden floor. That is a sound I need to get used to. he thought to himself as a smile crossed his face.     The group made their way out of the station, and as Brave stood there and took in the amazing sight of Ponyville, The grass was well worn and trotted on, but had green life in it all the same, the shops looked new and fresh in his mind as he walked along the grassed path. "I can’t believe this is all real" he thought to himself.  Taking in the sights of the town, and admiring the view of Twilight, Not a bad view from back here. He thought, suppressing a half-assed smile smile.     “I am going to run on ahead.” Spike said grinning to himself, he was holding a black bag with was looked to be filled with comic books.     "Hi Twilight, Welcome Home!"  A chipper voice spoke.     Twilight jumped in surprise to see standing next to her was Pinkie Pie with a wide smile perched on her face.     “Oh, hello Pinkie…what are you up too today?” Twilight said as she was making a vain attempt to calm her now expedient heart rate.     Pinkie didn’t answer, she moved closer to the white unicorn.  She put her face close to his narrowing her eyes  as if she were trying to peer into his soul.  “Do I know you?” She said questioningly.     “Well no—“     “This is Brave Knight.” Twilight chimed in as if it were a trivia question. “He is new to Ponyville and I—“     “Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh.” Pinkie jumped up and down bouncing back and forth “I should have known since I know all the ponies of Ponyville, and I did not recognize you so that must mean your new which means...” Pinkie stopped all movement and just blinked, Brave and Twilight watch her. After what seem to be a minute of a Pinkie Pie statue, Twilight put a hoof on her shoulder, just for it to pass though, and Pinkie to vanish.     An after image? Well that is interesting. Brave thought.     “That’s Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie.” Twilight said as she rolled her eyes with a smile. “I have a friend named Applejack that runs a apple stand in town, we are going to head there first, to pick up some more food for the house.” She stopped and changed direction to the central square.     Rows and rows of stalls and carts lined the streets and ponies came and went, a majority of them were mares. The pair walked up to a wooden cart parked along the edge of the street, with a makeshift table an apple sign on the front it.  Behind the table sat three fillies, wearing red aprons with wide smiles, while an orange mare with a cowboy hat sat in the shade of a nearby tree trying to watch over them.     “Good morning girls.” said Twilight as she walked up to the table. “You girls are helping Applejack today with the sales?”     “Were trying to earns our cutie marks!” the three said in unison. “Cutie Marks Crusaders Apple Assistants!” They three started to giggle.     “Well girls, I need three baskets of apples.” Twilight gestured over to the cart where the huge baskets were stored.     Brave trotted next to her, to get a better look at the crusaders, they were just like was he imagined. Brave took a side glance at Applejack under the tree and tried not to make it look to obvious that he was looking her over, you could tell from her build she lived on a farm, a fine coat and lean muscles in all the right places.       “That’s a lot of apples Miss Twilight.” The little filly with the grey coat remarked. “Why do you need so many?”     A long uncomfortable pause struck the air as Brave waited for her to answer. It’s not that embarrassing. he thought. I guess being a male it might be a little weird.     “I will be staying with her at her house for a while.” Brave said, the little fillies stared at him with wide eyes. Damn these girls are too cute for their own good, I bet they make a killing today in apple sales.     Sweet Bell looked back and forth from me and Twilight several times and then a sly smile grew on her face. “Miss Twilight is he your very special somepony? Is he, is he?"     Brave heard a hard cough then a small chuckle from the tree, as obvious as it was Applejack was enjoying this conversation. “Now sugarcube, stop pestering Twilight, you know full well not to go prying into other ponies personal business." said Applejack as she walked closer to Brave, examining him like he was a basket of apples being ready to be sold. “Ain't I have seen you before somewhere? You seem familiar."     Brave changed his stature and introduced himself. “I am Prince Brave, this is my first time in Ponyville, so I am sure we have never met."  As he gave a little bow in show of respect. God this is fun. Almost immediately the sound in the area dropped to nothing.  As if someone turned off the volume of the world. Brave turned and everypony in the square had their eyes on Brave.  Brave felt a little awkward from a now his self-realizing, overzealous way of his introduction.       “OK, OK every-pony nothing to see here move along move along.” Applejack stood in front of Brave with a serious look on her face, “Don’t mind the hassle Brave, we don’t get many hoity toity princely types around these parts."     Brave sat next to the cart until the prying eyes of the square left and the town center came to have some normalcy. Damn I should learn to keep my mouth shut.     “Brave you should really think a little bit before you go saying your title.” Twilight said in a motherly scornful tone. "Furthermore—“     “Oh my gosh!” the little orange filly shouted with a peeped voice as she was looking at Brave. “You…you don’t have a cutie mark!” She said with eyes narrowed to the point of pins.  The crusaders walked over to him and stared at my flank, Apple Bloom even poked it to see if she was seeing was real.       “I never found my special talent.” Brave said in a gentle tone, he gave the girls a big smile but to no avail, what he saw on their faces looked to be the ultimate mixture of horrors and sadness, like some-pony crack the fabric of their very essence. Crap i forgot about these three. They really do obsess about cutie marks.     “What if…” Apple bloom sniffled holding back tears. “What if we become an old fuddy duddy like him and never get our cutie marks!”     Fuddy Duddy?!?!, OLD! I’m 22. Brave thought. Wait... how old am I in horse years? Is that like dog years? Maybe I’m like 90 in horse years.     “Are you ok there Sugarcube?” Applejack walked over and shooed the CMC team back to the table, there faces still sad from the thought of them never finding their cutie marks. “Your eye is twitchin’.”     Brave got up and shook himself off, “Thank you but I am quite alright, sticks and stone and all that.” he gave her a small smile to know that he was not lying. “Now let’s get those apples.”       Twilight’s horn glowed as she lifted the three baskets in the air, “Put the bits on my account Applejack, if you don't mind.”     “You sure about that sugarcube? You're still owe quite a bit of bits.”     “It’s alright I can pay you off at the end of the month.” She looked down at the ground and kicked a little piece of dirt.     “Ok, hun you and Brave have a nice day.” She waved hoof and sat back down underneath the oak tree, now sitting comfortably while she watched over the crusaders. - - -     They walked across town, and took in a few sites, they walked past the boutique. He listened to Twilight talk about all her friends, since she came here to Ponyville, He already knew most of the story but couldn’t help himself seeing how happy she was talking about her friends.  They took a small delay to window shop, to no surprise, Twilight was more enthralled of fancy quills and parchment over the  other oddities that they saw.  After an hour they decided that it was time to head back, although Twilight decided to take the scenic route back, the path had few houses,  and the smell that drifted off of Ponyville Lake was mystical.     “WATCH OUT!” Screamed a voice from above.     Thud.     Brave could feel a deep pinch in his chest as he looked above.     Thud. Thud.     A wooden crate the size of a large couch had fallen from a pegasi moving truck; it was falling straight for Twilight; she looked up, frozen in terror as the crate for toward her.     Thud     *You better stop it or she’ll die.*     Immediately he tried to tap into the magic, Brave focused all his thoughts on his horn to stop the crate from falling… nothing.     Thud. Thud.     Brave did the next smartest thing, he charged over to Twilight and pushed her out of the way. He braced myself for impacted; Well I had a good run, I hope I get major brownie points in heaven for self-sacrifice. I can tell mom I met a pony.  he felt the edge of the crate hit his back, then... then... he felt…wet? It felt like someone drop a tub of water on him. He stood there blinking, soak from head to hoof, Brave looked up and the crate was gone.  The water soaked into the ground below, apples strewed across the ground in every direction.  Brave stood there looking with amazement thinking on how he wasn’t dead. How in the hell am I not dead?     “Are you alright?” Twilight said as she ran over to Brave. ”Did you hurt yourself, how did the crate...” She trailed off asking a million questions at once.  A butch looking pegasus with a clipboard few down from the moving cart.     “Are you two alright?” They both gave a nod, although Twilight was looking over Brave's body over to see if there was any damage. “Strangest thing, the rope that was holding that crate up disappeared.” He reached into the pocket on his side satchel, “I found this though.” he held up some black liquorish. “I found it on the bottom of the moving cart.”     The Pegasi flew down from the cart and gave there apologizes over and over again, they even helped pick up the apples and three movers took the baskets and told there were going to deliver them as a way of making amends.  After what seemed to be forever the crew packed up and moved on. - - -     They walked slowly to Twilight's house, Twilight was looking down the whole time as they walked.     Twilight stopped short of the library, he looked over at her and she looked like she was about to cry.       “What’s wrong?”  Brave said with a frightening thought “Did I hurt you when I shoved you, I really didn’t mean to be honest, and I just could think a better way...” He lowered my head to match hers hoping she could see that he was telling the truth.     Twilight walked and put her forehead against his chest, “Thank you...” he could feel tears coming down the front of his alabaster coat. “Thank you...” she sniffled as she tried to hold back some of her tears. “Thank you...but... WHAT WERE YOU THINKING. I could have stopped the crate from falling. I was about to when you pushed me. What if you died, do you know what the Princess would do to me!?”     “I am just glad you’re alright.” You could be a little more apersheative, damn uppity unicorn. I am the wont who just saved your tail. She pressed her chest against his, the initial reaction catching the stallion off guard. “Thank you though, it was sweet.” The stallion didn't say anything, this felt too much like a cheesy romance scene and it was his first one. He didn't know what to say.     They stood there for what felt like an eternity, she broke away and rub her eyes a bit as she tried to compose herself, they headed for the library.     Twilight opened the door to the library and noticed it was pitch black inside. All the lights were out and the blinds were shut as well. The lilac unicorn went in along with Brave and tried to turn on one of the lights. The lights suddenly flicked on and the blinds opened, letting in a burst of light that almost blinded the pair.     "SURPRISE!"  A large crowd of ponies yelled.     Brave and Twilight jumped and looked around the library in awe. All of the town’s citizens were in the library giving big grins and had party favors in their mouths. The ceiling was covered with balloons and streamers hanging from it. There were various sweets all around from cupcakes to pies of all flavors. Suddenly in the blink of an eye, Pinkie popped up in front of the pair. Brave and Twilight jumped in surprise once more.     “Hey guys, what took you so long we been in the dark her for over an hour.” The pink ball of mare bounced back and forth blowing on her party favor. “Did you get lost, I don’t see how you could have gotten lost since you almost in the middle of town and its easy to get here since the library is so big, I hope you still know how to get to my house, just remember it right above the Cake’s store.”     “Thank you Pinkie Pie.” Brave said and smiled at her, hoping that she would tone it down a bit.     “Call me Pinkie, all my friends call me Pinkie and I am now you friend so now you can call me Pinkie.” She said as she gave Brave a huge smile and she move closer to him.     “Alright thank you very much for the party… Pinkie.”     “Yahoooooooooo.”, she danced back and forth with her hooves shaking in the air with glee.     The door to the library opened behind them, as a white unicorn walked in wearing a white dress studded with gems of all shapes and sizes. On her neck was perched a gold facet with a large red heart shaped ruby. “Did I miss the Prince?” she said, i met her gaze and she strode over to me, walking as elegant as if this were some formal party.     “You must be the Prince that Twilight was showing around town.”     “How did you know that.” Twilight said with a small amount of irritation in her voice.     “Its Ponyville darling, word gets around faster than Rainbow Dash.” She gave him a small wink. “I also heard that you already saved my friends life from a falling crate.” The room quieted down a bit as now there were all listening in. “Pushed at damsel in distress out of the way and sacrificing yourself for her, such a gentle colt thing to do, and such a rare and far between things for a Prince to do."     Brave stood there blushing furiously as she worded his exploits like he was some kind of superhero. “Yes, that did happen.” Brave shrugged trying to keep a leveled head about the situation. Well its been five minutes and i'm already a hero. I think im off to a great start.     “No need to be humble darling.“ She walked over to Twilight and gave her friend a hug. “You saved my friend and for that I am in your debt. If you need anything at all, come by my boutique, I will make it worth your while.” Brave gulped a pool of saliva that have been forming at the back of his throat.      “Three cheers for are Brave,” screamed some-pony in the background who sounded like he was already drunk on the hard cider.     “HIP HIP HARA! HIP HIP HERA! HIP HIP HERA!” Everypony cheered in unison     Ponyville celebrated the rest of the day with their newcomer.  After a long night of pin the tail on the pony, and Monopony, things quieted down and Twilight waited for all the guests to leave before making a makeshift attempt on picking up.     “Don’t worry about cleaning up, you had a hard day, you should get some sleep.” Brave said hoping she would listen since she was obviously tired from today’s events.     “Thank you, your right I should get some sleep.” She trotted besides him with a mad blush on her face.     “I will set up the guest bed in Spike's room tomorrow for now you can sleep in my room."     Brave stared at her with bewilderment No freaking way this is going to happen… awesome. Thank god mom is dead, i would never want to tell her I am losing my virginity to a cartoon pony.     Brave followed in toe with a shit-eating grin on his face I’m going to get lucky. I’m going to get lucky. and found a separate bed opposite to hers.  Brave felt my eye twitch as he resisted the urge to facehoof. Of course there is another bed. Brave watched her crawl into bed; he walked over and nuzzled her cheek. She blushed madly as he smiled and walked over to his bed and crawled in, with a few twists and turns he was now comfortable.     “Good Night Twilight." Brave said.     “Good Night.” Twilight squeaked.     Brave resisted the urge to laugh as his body soon began to get heavy, as his eyes fluttered shut, and he fell into the land of dreams.         :Canterlot Garden:     “Daddy are you sure it’s him?” An earth pony with a purple coat, white and purple mane and a propeller cap on her head with a screw and a baseball for a cutie mark.     *Yes.* came a voice from the darkness. *Your brother has finally come home.*