"So, Twilight all of a sudden decides that she's yer brother and that ya need mah dad ta help ya out?" Caramel asked me.
It had been about ten minutes since Caramel first walked into the ice cream parlor. We had purchased ice cream bowls and were now sitting inside by a window, as kids around my age made their way back to their homes, joking and talking amongst one another. I noticed Applejack walking by herself. She seemed so distressed. Her hair was breaking from its generally contained state as she stared at the ground, kicking a rock along her path, with her hands in her pockets. She pulled out a tissue from her pocket and blew her nose. I'm not entirely sure why, though. After all, she seemed perfectly healthy when she left today in lunch, and I hadn't seen anybody notably sick. I didn't know everyone in the school, however. I stared at her with the desire to hold her. For no reason whatsoever I just wanted to be by her, especially when she looked so distressed. I didn't even know what was wrong with her, but it would mean so much to find out, so I can kick the ass of whoever made her sad.
"Joseph!" Caramel called out, poking me with his spoon.
I had met Caramel once while I was at Applejack's house, so it wasn't completely awkward being with him. He wore a plain looking caramel colored T-Shirt with three blue horseshoes on it, and wore a pair of slightly worn blue jeans. He looked nothing like the son of a well-esteemed psychologist, to be quite honest.
"Yeah! Y-Yeah, that's it." I sighed.
Caramel stared at me for a few seconds, and then shifted his eyes to my ice cream, seemingly thinking to himself.
"How long have ya known her?" Caramel asked me.
"Hmm, About a week." I replied, counting the days on my fingers.
"I see. Describe to me how you guys met"
"Well," I began "I'm. . . can you promise not to tell anybody else about this?"
"Sure thing, partner."
"Allright. Anyways, she was one of the first people that I met when I came here. When I came here. . . when I came here. . ." I paused for a moment. Should I really tell him that I don't know where I came from or why I came here all alone? Like, they were fine with teens living on their own around these parts. Twilight lived by herself, and Applejack was the only person I knew that had even any sort of mention of her parents (or, grandparent. But still. . .). However, I knew Caramel could be so helpful, since he might be able to find a way to tap into my mind and regain my memories, or do whatever psychologists do. However, he could also think I'm insane, coming from some unknown land and having no memory of it. What if he told everyone else?! Rarity already knew, but all of my friends would think that I was so weird! I knew that they knew I was the new kid, but they hadn't really taken the time to analyze where exactly I was from. . . they just seemed to accept me, a fact that I heavily appreciated.
"When you came here?" Caramel stated in a questionable tone, as I had drifted off into thought.
"Oh! Yeah! Um, When I came here, Twilight just instantly took a liking to me. She was the first person to come up and offer me to go to her house, offer me food, clothes, and a shelter. It wasn't even a contest, she just assumed the role. She signed me up for school and everything, and she even gave me her last name!" I stated.
"Food? Clothes? Shelter? Didn't ya have yer own stuff, though?" Caramel asked me.
I stopped for a second and tried thinking of what to say. I seriously didn't want him to know. I blushed a deep shade of red and stared at him.
"Well, you see, I actually don't know where I came from. I just kind of. . . showed up." I told him.
"Ya. . . showed up? Do ya know where ya came from?"
I stared at him in silence.
". . . Yer family?"
I stared at the ice cream now as it slowly melted, his caramel topping mixing with some of the melted ice cream.
"Ah see. . . ya know, Joseph, ah'd really like ta get ta know a bit more 'bout your circumstances. You. . . Ah'm interested in ya."
"I-Interested?" I asked him, tilting my head to the side.
"Yeah. A normal looking guy who doesn't remember where he came from, probably not from this town, just appears here. Ah'm not a psychologist or anythin', but yer case seems interestin'."
"Oh, ok. . . Wait, what about Twilight?!"
"Oh! Oh! Yeah yeah, ya busy tomorrow?"
"Not necessarily, I've got a date with my girlfriend tomorrow, but I'm not sure how long it'll last."
"G-G-GIRLFRIEND?! Y-You only been here a week and you gotcherself caught up in some sort of lovey dovey hootenany!" Caramel exclaimed as he stood up, slamming his hands on the table. The parlor wasn't necessarily too full, but the few people around the area stared at him oddly. "C-Congratuations." Caramel muttered as he sat himself back down. "Anyways, you could walk Twilight over to my house tomorrow. Ah think you've been there before, with Applejack, mah cousin. Even if yer not able ta stay, all we really need is her. We only need ya ta discuss payments"
"P-Payments?!" I almost screamed. I had barely enough money to pay my ice cream! (It was in some weird currency that they called 'bits'.)
"Mah dad's work ain't too expensive, but he can't be doin' charity work fer Twilight. However, for yer case, ah'd be willin' ta take ya in fer free."
"B-B-But I don't even have a job! I'm living off of a completely insane seventeen year old girl's money!"
"Who's that pretty girlfriend of yours?"
"Victoria Stewart."
"You can pay."
I sighed and slammed my head against the table. I guess this break from my homeland didn't necessarily mean a break from financial responsibility.
"Now, if yer free, we could walk over ta mah house right now. Ah'd sure love ta let dad meet ya and all."
I thought for a second. As much as I wanted to get home, and as weird as Caramel seemed, suddenly being so interested in me, I'd rather be outside than go home to see Twilight right now, who would probably tie me up and play dress-up with her big B.B.B.F.F. As fun as that sounded, I would rather not.
"Sure" I replied, realizing that I had barely touched my ice cream. We both got up, and I took some bites of my ice cream before throwing it away, half-finished. I looked at Caramel's cup and realized that he had barely touched his ice cream as well.
"Now" Caramel asked me as he opened the door "Since yer here, ah need ta talk with ya."
"Sorry, I don't remember much about home."
"No, not about that! But. . . it's about mah cousin, Applejack."
I shot up to attention as I heard the mention of her name.
"Anyways, she's been real out of it the past few days" He began. "She says that there's some boy at school that's been ignoring her an awful lot and has done the meanest things."
"WHO IS HE?!" I screamed, not caring about how loud I was.
"C-Calm down partner, hold your horses!" Caramel exclaimed. "I-I don't know, but he's in our grade apparently. She didn't say much about him, she just started crying all of a sudden. She told me 'Why doesn't that boy like me?! I do so much to make him happy and he doesn't say anything? Does he know anything about how to make a girl feel special, especially a girl that likes him?'"
I bit my lip. Applejack liked another guy. Why was I so surprised? After all, I already learned from today that she didn't care enough about me to stop me from having a girlfriend, and now I know that she had feelings for another man. It sucked terribly, as I still loved her so much even though I was stuck with Rarity. However, this changed nothing! Nobody should EVER be mean to Applejack! Nobody should ever make her feel not special and not like the greatest person of all! I swore to myself that whoever says another mean thing to her will receive a PERSONAL beating from me, no matter who he is.
". . . I'll kill him."
"D-D-DUDE!" Caramel exclaimed "P-Please man, calm yerself! If ya need psychological help for yer outbursts, mah dad can help too! Yer gonna have ta pay for it, though."
"I DON'T HAVE OUTBURSTS!" I paused for a second and bit my lip once more "I'm just a little flustered. B-Because. . . "
"Because?"
"Well. . . Applejack is really pretty, don't you think?"
"Ah'm her cousin."
"I know, I know! But, I think she's really pretty and really nice, I want to just sit alone with her and cuddle her and make her feel special, even when other people don't, I want to play with her in the grass under the stars, rolling around and laughing, just being happy. . ."
"Did you prepare that speech up?"
"N-No! T-That's just how I feel about her!"
"Well, partner, it's too bad that you already gotcherself a girlfriend. Plus, Applejack still really likes that boy that she saw. Love sure is a cruel thing."
"Sure is. . ." I sighed, placing my hands in my pockets.
We walked in silence through town for a good fifteen minutes, seeing as older businesspeople walked around town, making appointments and just looking busy without actually doing anything, as a lot of good businesspeople are known for. I was still kind of mad that Applejack had liked someone else. If only I had done more, if only I hadn't said yes to Rarity. She might have actually been interested in me and dumped that other mystery man for me.
"Here we go!" Caramel stated, breaking the silence as we approached Applejack's barn.
"W-why do you live here? Aren't you her cousin?" I asked curiously.
"Well yeah, but mah dad and mah other cousin, Braeburn, decided ta live here so we could go ta school. Braeburn lived with me originally, so when dad and I moved here fer school, he came along."
I nodded in understanding as we entered the house.
"Caramel! What's up with ya and bein' out late like that!?" A booming voice shouted from behind a wall.
"Dad! Dad, it's just me! Ah've got someone you ought ta meet!" Caramel called out.
The house, which I failed to describe before on my last visit, was incredibly cozy, with nice dark wooden walls surrounding the area. A fireplace sat on the right end of the house that burned heartily, adding to the coziness of the home. I was half tempted just to lay down on one of the couches by the fireplace and just sleep. However, before I could do so, a familiar face walked by.
"DYUHUHAWHAT?!" A female southern voice screamed, one that was incredibly pleasant to my ears. "J-J-Jo-Jo. . . h-hi."
"Hi Augustine." I replied politely. I knew she didn't like me all that much, or at least as much as I wanted her to, but I still had to be courteous to her.
Before I could say anything more, she turned around and hurriedly went back the way she came. I heard her accidentally kick a few things while going back to wherever she was going. Out of the same door, a seemingly larger version of Caramel came out, almost eerily similar to him, with the same hairstyle, the same colored shirt, and similar accents. If it weren't for his "Stable Hospital" logo on his shirt, and his slight height difference, I wouldn't have been able to tell the difference.
"Ah, don't mind little Jackie, she's always skittish when she sees new people." The larger Caramel stated.
"Really? Ah alw-" Young Caramel stated.
"So! Who's your new friend?"
"His name? Joseph, Ah'm pretty sure. Ah wanted ya ta. . . inspect him."
"Joseph! Ah'm Dr. Sal McIver. Ah am the head doctor of Stable Hospital. Feel free ta call me Dr. Stable if ya so choose ta." Dr. Stable outstretched his hand, which I took and shook. It still looked and felt incredibly similar to Caramel's, which creeped me out slightly, but I shook the thought of of my mind. "So what's this about testin?"
"Well," I began "Let me explain everything as much as I can. . ."
* * *
"Ah'll do it." Dr. Stable stated cheerfully, after writing down a page of illegible notes. "You know, Twilight's been a sweet girl and all, she loves comin' down to the hospital and helpin' out with nurse things. Ya know, ah've been tryin' ta get ol' Carlton here to spend some quality time with her!"
Caramel gave a deadly glare to his father, who only laughed.
"Ya gotta find some girl soon, Carlton! What, if we become desperate enough, we might just marry ya off to Augustine!"
You wouldn't dare, I thought to myself, clenching my fists. Caramel saw my reaction and giggled softly.
"WHAT?!" I almost screamed, as my tension increased from the mention of Applejack.
"Nothin, nothing. . ." Caramel giggled as he regained his composure. "Jus' 'memberin' a funny joke an' all."
"Well, Joseph," Dr. Stable began again "Ah think you gotcherself a deal, and ah'll be sure ta help ya with yer payments. However, that Victoria girl has got a chunk of change, ya should be fine."
I sighed at the notion of payments and grabbed my backpack, ready to head back home.
"Just remember, Jo" Caramel called to me. "Get Twilight on yer side about goin'. Ah know she can be a bit stubborn, but it ain't gonna help her one bit if she doesn't want to go."
I sighed to myself and clenched my fists again. That was going to be the hard part. It wasn't like I wasn't aware that Twilight really needed psychological help, but it wasn't the greatest thing in the world to be told “You're insane, you need help," especially to the person who I was living with.
"I'll do it," I half-heartedly replied as I waved goodbye and walked out the door without looking back at the two Caramels.
I never really got to truly appreciate the walk back home. Whenever I walked from school to Twilight's house, I always ended up having something else on my mind. I always would try to appreciate the nice scenery that decorated this foreign land, but I always seemed to get caught up in my thoughts, like how Twilight was going to react when I told her that I wanted her to see a psychologist! It was so wrong of me to live my life here as her brother, especially if it turns out that her actual brother is dead or something. Plus, what happens when I go back home?! (Or if. . .). She'll be lost forever thinking her brother abandoned her for a second time!
Plus, now that I think about it, I hadn't met up with Rarity this entire time! Knowing her personality, she would be incredibly mad at me! Granted, we had plans for tomorrow, which I had mixed feelings about, but still, my limited knowledge of being in a relationship is the constant contact with one another, an issue that destroyed my only other relationship. Granted, I didn't truly love Rarity as much as I should have. . . I still really wanted Applejack. . .
Applejack truly was beautiful. . . I wish I could have stayed longer, honestly. I could have done whatever she does at home. I always thought her to be the type to secretly be really girly and play with stuffed animals or dolls and have tea parties, and hide everything under her bed so Mac or Braeburn or Caramel wouldn't see any of it and see her as some sort of tomboy. We could have done so many things, we could have talked, we could have joked around, we could have played, we could have. . .been something. . .
I'm getting off track! I promised myself that I wouldn't get sidetracked! Now, back to Rarity, I had a date with her tomorrow, which, from my limited knowledge, would be a mixture of loving as well as anger towards my inability to be with her today, but still, even though I didn't really feel for her as strongly as I did for Applejack, I had made a commitment, a commitment to be with her, and I had to do everything in my path to do so! After all, I feared oh so greatly what would happen if I left her. . .
Before I knew it, I was at the foot of Twilight's door, where I could hear her laughing from inside. I opened the door and saw her with a large cardboard box marked "Rowland and Me!~", decorated with pictures of cute ponies and stick figures. Twilight was laying on the couch where I slept, looking at a picture of the real Rowland who was wearing a silly costume of some cartoon character I probably hadn't heard of, chasing a young Twilight around the loft of a house. I saw two adults sitting behind the action, smiling and holding hands. I sighed, knowing that the moment had come, the moment to break all of her happiness.
"ROWLAND! Oh, I'm sooo happy to see you!" Twilight giggled as she immediately rose from the couch and came to hug me.
"H-H-Hi" I managed to stammer out, her hugs squeezing what little muscle I had in my stomach out of me.
"Ooh, Rowland, guess whaaaat!"
"Y-Ye-Yeah?"
"I just got us two tickets to go to the localmuseum! We're going to see an entire exhibit about the Trojan Horse! Won't that be fun!? Didn't you think it was so cool?! You know." Twilight's focus on my loosened as she grew more solemn and looked towards the ground "Before you left?"
"Oh! Um, yeah, it is really cool!" I managed to reply. I'm assuming that in this crazy foreign land, the Trojan Horse was the same thing, where soldiers from some ancient land got on this giant horse thing and invaded some city state thing. Knowing about Rowland, he probably would have enjoyed such a creative military feat. Granted, I wasn't very good at emulating his possible excitement.
"Aren't you happy, Rowland!?"
"Yeah! I-It's just, we can't go tomorrow. . ."
"Why not?" Twilight lost her grip on me and stood politely straight in front of me, her arms folded behind her back and her eyes growing in width as they refocused onto mine.
"Well. . . well. . ." I searched for the words "You. . . "
I sighed as I closed my eyes. . . if I was going to do this, I was going to do it right.
"YOU'RE INSANE AND YOU NEED HELP." I screamed much louder than any human being probably should ever scream.
Twilight jumped back out of fear and confusion. "W-What?!" she yelped.
"I'm not Rowland!" I began. Any sort of hesitation would make me just. . . I wouldn't be able to do it. My heart grew with intensity as I tried to get the words out as fast as possible, nervous about how she would react. "I'm Joseph! I don't know much of who I am, but I know that I'm Joseph! You're a great person, Tina, but I don't want to live my life as a lie when I don't even know who I truly am! I appreciate you taking care of me, but I am not your brother, I am just a stranger who just popped in and wants to. . ."
I was right, I began to hesitate on my last words. It wasn't like it really meant anything that I said anything more than "I'm not Rowland", but still, did I want to go back home? I wasn't all too sure. It had been an issue bouncing around in my head, back and forth and back and forth for countless times. I had come to this place wanting nothing more than to just to get home, but I'd changed since then, in little less than a week. I meant something to people, a feeling I never remembered back home. However, I didn't want to be a lie. This place was so nice, though, and I loved people here. I had all forms of love here, from the love of friendship, to the love of my "family" that took care of me while I was here, to the deepest form of human love. I may have tasted these feelings back home, but it was so much stronger here.
There was dead silence in the room. I couldn't start again, it was just Twilight and I staring at each other, finding the right words to say.
"Rowlan-"
"I'M NOT ROWLAND!" I screamed once again. "I'm not, I'm not, I'm not! Stop it, Tina! S-S-S. . . S-S. . .Stop. . ."
I don't know what overcame me, honestly. My legs began to tremble as I looked at Twilight, such a bright young girl, about to be ruined because I was too stupid to just make everything all better. I was weak, I was fallible, I was nothing more than the reason for her downfall. I was. . . Tears began to fill my eyes as I fell to the floor. Before I had thudded on the ground, tears began flowing out and the moans of horrid depression and sadness roared from my eyes. It was stupid of me, to bring myself down so low, to just fall on the ground like an unstable statue would, to crumble and break all over the floor. Girls were smart, they just ran to their rooms and cried on their beds for hours on end, but I had broken in the most vulnerable of places.
I had expected Twilight to simply run off and cry like she usually did regarding the subject of her brother, but I couldn't hear footsteps at all. I felt an arm on my shoulder. I looked up and noticed Twilight, her lips trembling but still attempting to form a smile.
"I-It's going to be ok, b-b-bro. . . " She attempted to comfort me, but the pain was too much for her, to see me in such a desperate situation while denying a truth she had set so close to her heart. She fell over and began sobbing as well, her head buried into my shoulder, her arms wrapping around my neck. "I-I l-love you. . ." she breathed out as she tried to stop the tears. Our rivers flowed for eternal seconds as we let out all of the pains of the past few days into her living room floor. But even eternity ended as our rivers ceased to produce any more, and we looked into each other's eyes once again.
"I. . . psychiatrist. . . Carlton. . . he wants to see you. . . tomorrow. . ." I stammered out as Twilight continued to leak out the last of her tears.
"But I want Rowland. . . " she pouted
"B-But I'm not him. We'll find him, though, I'll help, I promise." I managed to whisper to her.
"I want him now."
"I know, but you're strong, and he's strong, we'll find him, and I'll do it as soon as I can. You know why?"
"W-W-Why?"
"Because. . . because I love you. . . sis."
"B-B-" Twilight's eyes shot up in confusion.
"I know, I'm not Rowland, but you just, you've done so much for me, I consider you like a sister. Even if we can't be Rowland and Tina, we can still be Joseph and Tina, the second bestest brother and sister crew out there."
Twilight's lips shook and trembled as the desire to cry once more grew from her. There was silence as I braced myself for this moment, but release never occurred.
"I. . . want you to sleep with me." Twilight calmly stated after a fight to keep her body in control.
"WHAT?!" I screamed, scooting back from her slightly.
"You, I mean, Rowland would always sleep in bed with me when I got sad. It would make me feel better, always"
I sighed a huge sigh of relief. If there was anything I didn't need, it was another reason to get Rarity mad at me. "Sure. Let's go now." I replied as I did my best to get myself up. I held out my hand so both of us could assist each other. However, our weak state made this task seemingly impossible, and I ended up falling over on top of her, her hair spun out to fill the floor in the best way it could as I landed directly on top of her, my eyes on top of hers, my body on top of hers. I blushed a shade of deep red as she giggled and ticked me in the stomach. We rolled around as I decided to join the antics as well. I wasn't much of a good tickler, but Twilight was very nice and just went along with it, giggling and laughing as we rolled around the floor of the house.
After about ten minutes, all we could do was pant from exhaustion due to our activity. We managed to get up on our own, ready to head to her bedroom. She grabbed my hand and pulled me to the room, with the door already open. It was organized incredibly nicely, almost as if she had OCD or some disorder of the sort. Everything, including her "Rowland is the best B.B.B.F.F" wall was organized in a fashion where no picture was out of alignment, each different sized picture was placed to make perfect squares. The floor was seemingly vacuumed of any sort of item that wasn't floorboards, as the perfectly cleaned room emulated the elements of a showroom on television. I looked around the room, interested in just how any human being could organize their pencils by the number of times used, to always have the least used pencil when working on homework.
I turned around and noticed Twilight, wearing nothing but a bra and panties, her nicely sized breasts being shown off by the lack of material on her bra.
"GYAH!" I screamed, almost knocking over her desk as I jumped back. "I have a girlfriend!"
"O-Oh. . . " Twilight sighed "Rowland was always fine with it. . ."
Note to self: Rowland was a pervert. . . A pervert with good taste.
"It's fine, it's fine, but I'm not getting naked or anything"
Twilight giggled softly and jumped onto the bed, pulling the sheets over her. I removed my shoes, attempting to find someplace nice to put them, and crawled into bed with her.
Twilight rolled over towards me, so her body was in contact with mine, and looked into my eyes once more. "You know, even if you aren't my brother, I'll always consider you one." Twilight smiled as she wrapped her arms around me once more, her warm body sending chills down my spine. "Don't leave me, please, whoever you are, I want you here."
I wrapped my arms around her body in compliance. This felt so much more natural than with Rarity. I guess because it hadn't been so forced. With Rarity, she just got naked and whipped out my dick without my consent. However, with Twilight, there was something much more serene about the entire situation. And we were "brother and sister" as well, so my mind wasn't filled with sexual thoughts (Although, don't get me wrong, they might have been there). However, my primary thoughts were simply that I had wounded Twilight. I hadn't known her for that long, I don't know how long she had been waiting for Rowland. Her hopes and dreams of finding him just died, probably not for the first time. I just wanted to comfort her. I held her tightly against my body as she fell into the comforting abyss of sleep.
She had so much trust in me, in someone who had just hurt her so badly. Is this what family was like? Is this why the love between a family was so special? I didn't know, I had such distorted thoughts regarding my family that I couldn't even describe them if anyone asked. . . but everything, for once, felt right. There were still conflicts I had, but everything felt right as I cuddled Twilight, the only "family" I really had with me. She wanted to stick with me forever, she wanted to be there for me and with me, as I tried my best to be there for her. Even if she didn't always like it, I would always think in her betterment so she doesn't end up ruined. She wasn't going to stick with me because she had intentions of bearing my children like Rarity, but rather because of a true deeper love, the love of family, a love that I had never felt before now.
I stared at her as she slept, and I don't know what overcame me. I leaned in slowly and gave her a kiss on the forehead, hopefully in efforts to comfort her even more, after I had hurt her so much, I loved her, loved her like the best kind of sister, the sister I never had. My mind was comforted with the vision of her sleeping face as I fell into the soft arms of sleep, as it ensured me that tomorrow would be the beginning of a recovery, and that although this place still had its bumpy times, maybe this was the place right for me.