//------------------------------// // What could possibly go wrong // Story: Unexpected Guest // by Nightshy101 //------------------------------// The next evening after supper Applebloom had to go to bed. She was laying about half an hour when her sister came to check her. When Applejack saw that she is sleeping she closed the door and walked to her own room. As soon as Applebloom heard the door close she opened her eyes and got up. She carefully walked to the door. She opened it and started walking slowly through the corridor, trying to not wake up anypony. When she got outside her home she started galloping to the hill. It was on the other side of apple orchard. When she finally got to the place she saw that nopony was there. She sat in the same place as yesterday. After few minutes of waiting she saw some move in bushes. "Gabriel?" She asked curiously. The wolf poked his head out of the bush. "Oh... Hi Applebloom. Sorry for this but I heard somepony is coming so I decided to... hide here for a moment" He told her quietly, not looking into her eyes. "Really?" She asked him sarcastically. "Yeah. I was just hiding and... stuff" He told still not looking at Applebloom. "Don't lie to me. Ah can see when somepony's lyin' " Gabriel looked at her. He expected to see a look of disappointment, maybe even anger. But he saw that she was smiling kindly. It caused him to smile too. His smile disappeared as soon as he remembered why he was in this bushes. "Come closer, I'll show you" He told her and turned to the bushes. He walked inside and Applebloom behind him. When they were in the bushes Applebloom saw a little camp. There was a hammock, a little log near the tree, which was used as a chair and a small fireplace in the middle. She gave Gabriel a puzzled look. When he saw this he quickly explained "I've been living here since last week". When he said that Applebloom saw that he was almost crying. She came close and sat in front of him. "Why? What happened?" She asked him curiously. She could guess what happened: he escaped from home. Now she wanted to know why he was here and not deep inside the Everfree Forest. Gabriel sighed. "It's a long story..." "We have all night to talk" She replied smiling. He sighed again. "Okay, let's sit near the fireplace. It will keep us warm" He walked near the fireplace. Inside there were some still glowing pieces. He put some branches on it, poured some weird liquid and blow a few times. Suddenly all the branches started to burn. Applebloom was amazed, and looked at Gabriel curiously. He ignored her stare and started talking. "Back in my village, in the Everfree Forest I had many problems. Other wolves laughed at me because I was a bookworm and I was very weak. I didn't like talking with them. They were very rude. They talked to me only when they wanted there homework done or money. In my home it wasn't any better. My father always told me that I was useless. You see, I haven't got sharp teeth or claws like the others. I couldn't eat meat and go hunting with him. I also didn't like the idea of killing animals. I really like them, and blood is disgusting for me. You can guess that my father wasn't happy with this. He tried to 'Make a man out of me' and he took me on every hunting trip. I couldn't do anything but watch. It was awful when everyone attacked some animal. Blood was everywhere. Sometimes I just ran away, but later my father shouted at me. It wasn't very nice." He started sobbing "Once I found a little ferret near my house and I decided to take care of it. It was a boy and I called him Lucas... When my father found him he... he k-killed him in front of me... And it was just too much!" He started crying now. He was sitting there for a moment, crying quietly. Suddenly he felt something weird. He opened his eyes and saw what it was. He was very surprised when he saw that it was Applebloom. She was hugging him. He stared at her for a moment. Then he returned the hug. "It's okay now. You're here now. Nopony will judge you" She was comforting him. Her voice was full of compassion. "Th-thank you" He said hugging her tighter. "But you can't stay here" Gabriel broke the hug. "What? Why..?" . He couldn't believe in what he just heard. He trusted her, he told her everything and now she wanted him to go away. Something was wrong here. When Applebloom saw his expression she quickly added "Ah mean not here in this bushes. Somepony will found you soon if you stay here. Ah think ah know better place. Nopony is usin' it anyway. Do you want to see it?" She asked with excitement. Gabriel had very wide smile. She didn't want him to go. She even wanted him to stay. She cared about him. It was a very nice feeling. He hugged her again. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" He shouted in joy. Applebloom laughed. "Okay enough of this, let's go" She said turning around, ready to walk back to her house. Gabriel poured some water on the fire. He untied his hammock and hid it in the bush. Then he stayed and looked at it. It looked like he has never been here before. He then turned to Applebloom. She nodded and they came out of bushes. They looked at the sky. There was still few hours of night. "Sooo... Where are we going now?" "To my home" She said with a smile. He stopped suddenly and stared at her. She looked at him and giggled. "Don't worry ah have plan" She said proudly. They started walking through apple orchard. Gabriel was worried but he trusted Applebloom. What could possibly go wrong?