//------------------------------//
// Autumn - Part 2 
// Story: The Seasons 
// by Scootareader 
//------------------------------//

	Several months later, Derpy Hooves left Canterlot Central School for Happy Fillies and Colts.

She and Briar Patch spent almost every day talking and sharing and laughing. They were almost inseparable, they got along so well. Miss Chalk thought that Briar was a bad influence for Derpy, and she would tell Derpy as much, but it wasn't the concerned teacher's place to tell a young filly who she should or shouldn't associate with.

Filthy Rich and his cronies didn't try to mess with Derpy Hooves or Briar Patch after the incident on Briar Patch's first day, either. He was a bully, sure, but he didn't like when other ponies stood up to him. He liked dishing things out, but he couldn't take returning insults very well, and he knew it.

Briar Patch, for his part, was inexorably happy. Nopony knew what was going on his head, but he seemed far more content with his current situation than anypony else. There were questioning glances being cast his way fairly constantly, but he ignored them, holding to the thoughts that made him so optimistic.

And then, Derpy left. She leaned over to Briar Patch one day and whispered, "I'm leaving for Ponyville."

Briar, completely shocked in light of this news, asked, "When?"

Derpy whispered back, "Tomorrow. This is my last day."

The brash young colt seemed to deflate instantly. Derpy got back to her studies, seemingly unaware of the anguish she'd just caused within her friend.

The next day, every single pony in class noted the dim, sad expression that had overcome the excitable young foal. It seemed as if he'd been building a puzzle his entire life, and just as he was about to finish, he discovered he'd been missing a piece the entire time, and he could never complete what he'd poured all of his effort and ambition into.

As if to add insult to injury, his cutie mark appeared that same day. Filthy had decided to test the waters now that Derpy had left, and Briar had thrown an insult his direction, glumly staring at his flank as a gnarled thorny vine appeared. He ignored the compliments thrown his way, instead pondering if his special talent was insulting snobby ponies.

The source of his happiness gone, Briar had more time to spend in his schoolwork. He was a bright student, and Miss Chalk was enthusiastic about his marked increase in grades; however, she avoided trying to compliment him on his work, as Briar would just glare sullenly ahead of him as she rattled off his achievements. She enjoyed seeing her students happy at having done well, but Briar's despair seemed just as infectious as his joy had been, and she couldn't begin to penetrate his cloud of gloom.

Months passed, and still Briar hadn't perked up. He graduated as the top student in his class, but refused to be recognized as such, opting to not even attend the ceremony. He quickly became reclusive, no longer showing up much outside of formal dinners at Canterlot Castle and other esteemed social functions, but his demeanor never changed when he was seen.

Princess Celestia, having been the subject of inquiry several times as to Briar Patch's cold attitude, had attempted to reason with the young stallion, to no avail. It appeared not even the Princess of the Sun could shine light on her own adopted colt's dismal life.

For this reason, when Briar Patch approached his guardian in hopes of relocating to Ponyville, the wise ruler nodded her head and requested a transport be prepared immediately.





As he set foot in his new home town, Briar Patch smiled up at the guards that had transported him here, a small glimmer of hope returning thanks, in part, to these two stallions. "Thanks for the ride."

The two guard-ponies nodded at Briar, once again launching themselves into the air and making their return trip to Canterlot. The new resident looked at his surroundings, seeing a considerably smaller and far more quaint town than what he'd become familiar with. It was reminiscent of the town he'd known before he ever met Princess Celestia.

First order of business was to settle in to his new home. Princess Celestia had acquired for him a small one-pony cottage near the outskirts of town, removed from other ponies. Her reason for this, the stallion suspected, was because she thought he may have trouble integrating with the locals, given his chronic depression of the past year or so. He didn't blame her for believing that; he would have done the same for his foal.

His small amount of possessions relocated, Briar decided to explore the town a little bit in search of his reason for moving here. He asked several ponies for Derpy's location, giving a short description, but none of the ponies seemed to know who he was talking about.

His sense of dread growing, he approached a bouncy pink pony. "Um. Yes, excuse me?"

"Oh, hi! You must be new here! Are you new here?"

"Yeah, I'm Briar Patch--"

The pink pony cut him off mid-sentence. "I'm Pinkie Pie! I know everypony in Ponyville, and I mean everypony, and I didn't recognize you, so I figured you must be new!"

Briar Patch nodded slowly throughout the conversation, his brain having to process quickly to get everything she was saying. "Yeah, I just got here about an hour ago. Listen, you said you know everypony?"

"Oh, yes!" Pinkie Pie seemed to light up at this. "I know Rarity, and Lyra, and Scootaloo, and Colgate, and Rainbow Dash, and Mr. and Mrs. Cake, and--"

"Oh, I need to know about a specific pony." Briar did his best to interrupt with tact, but it seemed nearly impossible.

Pinkie Pie didn't seem bothered by it. "Oh, really? Ooh, who is it! Who is it!"

Briar Patch took a deep breath. "Derpy Hooves... or she also goes by Ditsy Doo."

The pink mare's face lit up. "Of course I know who that is! She comes to pretty much every single one of my parties! What do you need to know about her?"

"Absolutely everything."





Through a relatively interesting conversation with Pinkie Pie that was full of derails and tangents, Briar Patch managed to glean a few bits of knowledge about Derpy Hooves.

The first thing that Briar Patch learned was that Derpy Hooves still lived in Ponyville. She didn't live alone, as she had a daughter named Dinky Hooves, but nopony seemed to know much about the little filly under Derpy's care, Pinkie Pie included. Briar filed this information away as one of the first things he would ask about.

He also learned that Derpy was the mail-mare for Ponyville. Once a day, she and a near-blind stallion would split the town down the middle and alternate which half each of them would take. They were a great team, although she was almost always a little late, and he never seemed to put the mail in the right mailboxes.

Thanks to Pinkie Pie's freaky knowledge of everypony, he also learned where Derpy lived. Like himself, she was on the very outskirts of town in a removed cottage. The only difference was, she already lived with somepony.

Briar Patch was shocked to hear this, and Pinkie Pie had limited knowledge on the pony that Derpy lived with. She did reassure him, however, by saying it was a young filly named Dinky Hooves. Had Derpy had a foal while he was gone?

He wished he'd taken his consideration to move to Ponyville when Derpy did seriously. Princess Celestia could do just about anything; it would have solved all of his problems and given him more time with the mare he felt so strongly about.

Now, many things had changed. It hadn't really been that long, but Briar had done some growing up, as had Derpy. It was time to resolve everything and see her again.

Briar Patch thanked Pinkie Pie for all her help and trotted in the direction she pointed for Derpy Hooves' cottage.





As he approached the clearing where Derpy's house would be, Briar Patch began to feel nervous. It wasn't a foreign feeling to him; he just hadn't had reason to experience it in a while. He was afraid of what she might think.

Briar Patch had originally met Derpy Hooves in a confrontation. He would invariably defend other ponies, no matter what the situation was. He didn't care whether he got in trouble or if it was in vain, because he was certain that every single pony was worth fighting for.

This was different. It was like meeting a new mare all over, one that he already knew he would like. He'd gotten older, and so had she. It felt new... completely changed from when he'd met her before.

The cottage hovered into view. Briar Patch stopped in his tracks, staring at the door blankly. His brain was screaming at his hooves to stop. He couldn't do it.

He leaped into a bush beside the road, poking his eyes out and watching for movement.

Not five seconds later, the front door opened, and a purple unicorn filly complained, "But Mom, I don't wanna play outside right now! I wanna help you bake!"

A beautiful grey pegasus rounded the corner. The stern look on her face was complimented by her banana-colored mane and equally as yellow eyes. "Now, I know, but being outside is just as important as knowing how to cook, and you helped me with dinner yesterday. Today is play day for Dinky!"

Briar found himself staring at the mare he'd missed for eternity. His heart began to beat faster as he saw her nuzzle her filly lovingly and retreat back indoors, the door closing between him and his hope once again.

The filly, Dinky, began to trot about outside happily. Briar couldn't move without alerting her to the fact that a pony had been hiding in the bush. He watched warily as the small unicorn's horn lit, her magic lifting a Daring Do action figure and a Princess Celestia doll, her innocent mind imagining an epic battle that had put the two at odds.

He began trying to listen in on Dinky's conversation with herself. "You cannot hope to defeat me, Daring Do! I have magical powers! That is nothing, Princess Luna! I will escape your traps! Hahaha! You think that you have a chance? Of course I do! I'm Daring Do! I will always defeat evil wherever it may be!"

Briar smiled as he remembered himself playing with similar toys at Dinky's age. He lost himself in nostalgia, temporarily forgetting where he was.

"W-who are you? Come out right now!"

Briar snapped back to reality. The filly unicorn was staring right into his eyes. He hadn't realized she was slowly scooting closer and closer to him at the forest's edge.

"Hey! I said come out!"

Briar moved swiftly, vacating his hideout and standing silently beside it where Dinky Hooves could see.

"Who are you?"

His mind working furiously, Briar had to think of a convincing name. He couldn't give his real one to Dinky, lest she speak with her mother about this meeting. "I'm, uh..."

"Your name's not Uh! That would be silly!"

"It's Bramble."

"Bramble? I think that's a nice name! Did you come here to play with me?"

Well, that was easy. "Um... kind of."

"Hooray!" Dinky beamed brightly. "Who do you wanna be, Daring Do or Princess Luna?"

"That's not Princess Luna. That's Princess Celestia."

"I know that! But she wouldn't be evil if she was Princess Celestia. Miss Cheerilee says that Princess Luna got sealed in the moon for being bad, and she's still there now."

Briar Patch nodded in agreement. "Yes, but she's Nightmare Moon now, not Princess Luna. Princess Luna was a kind and caring mare, and she turned evil and became Nightmare Moon."

Dinky looked quizzically at her new friend. "How do you know all that?"

"I know Princess Celestia." He winked conspiratorially at her. "I'm a secret agent who's here to make sure you have a friend to play outside with, on orders from her."

The filly's face lit up and her grin broadened as she imagined Princess Celestia ordering somepony to come play with her. "Kay! Daring Do or... uh... Nightmare Moon?"

"I'll be Nightmare Moon."

As Dinky's magic levitated the Princess Celestia doll towards Briar Patch, there was the sound of a door opening behind her.

Briar, thinking instinctively, dashed into the forest as quickly as his legs would carry him. Behind him, he heard Derpy calling Dinky, asking what was wrong. He was almost certain that she would chase him.

Finding another good bush to hide in, Briar dove headlong into it, immediately regretting his quick thinking. Ironically, he was now in a small patch of briar. He wriggled his way painfully into the security of the thorny bushes, wincing as several sharp spears jabbed into his side.

A few seconds behind him, a beautiful grey pegasus sped in the same direction he'd been heading. From his uncomfortable hiding spot, he watched as Derpy flew purposefully in pursuit of him.

Briar Patch quieted his breath, standing stock still as Derpy glared angrily around the forest in an attempt to spot whoever had been talking to her daughter. Celestia, she's protective.

His eyes stayed focused on the mare as her eyes darted to and fro, often looking different directions, but still menacing. I can't talk to her like this....

Eventually, to Briar's shock, Derpy left off the hunt. She had been zipping through the trees for several minutes in an attempt to find him, but she finally sighed exasperatedly and made her way home.

As the pegasus flew resignedly back toward her home, Briar let out a relieved sigh. He'd escaped the wrath of the fierce mother for one day. He'd be back to see her again soon, at any rate.





Having had enough suspense for one day, Briar Patch headed towards his own home in Ponyville. The evening ahead of him was to be filled with boredom and loneliness. It was a similar feeling to how matters had been for a while now. He had hope that it would end soon, but he wasn't sure of it. Not yet.

In the midst of his pondering, he was slapped directly in the face with a piece of paper. Grumbling in protest, he extricated himself from the offending flyer and scanned it irritatedly.

The paper read:


RUNNING OF THE LEAVES
Ponies get to race in an annual tradition to knock leaves off the trees!
Every year, ponies gather together to participate in the annual Running of the Leaves, a hoofrace that is necessary to shake those pesky leaves off the trees so they can continue the cycle of life in accordance with the seasons. Gather your friends together and help Equestria stay healthy!


The earth pony smiled to himself. It would be wonderful to do that with Derpy.