//------------------------------// // Nostalgia (The Bad Kind) (e) // Story: Sharp and Flat (First Attempt At Writing) // by thisnameisironic //------------------------------// WARNING: This chapter contains large amounts of feels. Read at your own risk. Debtone looked around the commons as she came in. She couldn’t find her foal brother anywhere. That was another thing she did to tease Treble: he absolutely loathed being called that. She called him that when he was first born, and it’s always sticked since. He could be a full grown stallion with a wife and foals of his own and she would still call him her foal brother. She giggled at the thought. After she broke out of her ADHD and got back on task, she continued to look toward the commons entrance. Where is he? Even with his shyness, he would at least come for breakfast and gobble down 2 platefuls of alfalfa. And the hay bacon… She knew not to even get started on that. Her words trailed off as she noticed two of her CSGU classmates approaching where she was sitting. One of them was a dark purple unicorn with a short cerulean mane and a tail to match. Another was the shortest of the group, a rash pony, with a scarlet mane (that seemed to always be hidden under a baseball cap) and a wine-colored coat. “What’s wrong with you?” the red-maned young mare questioned with a gruff voice for a mare. (Imagine Gilda but with only a slightly more feminine voice) “Nothing, Berry,” Deb replied in a monotone. This caught Strawberry by surprise, and not in a good way. “I told you not to call me that!” Berry reacted angrily. “I told you my name is B. I prefer it that way!” The purple unicorn had to grab hold of the easily angered first-year with her magic to calm her down. It was clear “B” was a tomcolt, and wasn’t very appreciative of the name she was given as a foal. Her mother was Berry Punch, a heavy alcoholic who surprising didn’t give birth to a child with fetal alcohol syndrome. Punch was so drunk at the time that she didn’t even give B an actual last name; she was simply named Berry, proven by her birth certificate. “Thanks Aura,” Deb said to the purple unicorn, born from an astronomer and former opera vocalist. As the two mares sat down, Deb continued staring toward the entrance. Her elder sister senses brought her into (quite well hidden) tension. Where is he? Did something happen? Did he oversleep? Did he get lost again? All these thoughts and more rushed through her head at once at blinding speeds. Something’s troubling you, Deb. I can sense it. Deb jumped at the sudden voice in her head to find Aura staring at her with caring eyes. While most unicorns were able to learn telepathy in advanced magic classes, Aura was able to do it at a very young age. She was also able to tell exactly how a pony was feeling, a skill that not many unicorns, let alone any race of ponies, possess. Aura thinks that she got her abilities from her mother, who worked as a gypsy and mind reader in Neigh Orleans before she moved to more “professional” things. “It’s your brother, isn’t it?” Aura predicted oh-so-innocently. Deb sighed. “Yeah…where is he? Do you know?” Aura shook her head, much to Deb’s dismay. “Don’t look at me. I’m a mind reader, not a fortune teller,” she replied. Deb’s question was answered, however, as she overheard a conversation at a nearby table of colts. She couldn’t tell exactly what was being said, but what she could now seemed obvious to her. “Dude…hear about…white colt?” “…yeah…out like a foal.” “…wimp.” Deb covered her face in her hooves in embarrassment. It should’ve been completely obvious. Of course Treble would humiliate himself. He tended to have a habit of doing that with other ponies, didn’t he? Now she felt absolutely terrible. Her foal brother shouldn’t have to go through the pain that he has. She had gotten countless letters from him during the school year, many of them about missing her or mishaps at school. During the week her first year started, Treble was beaten mercilessly, taking home a black eye and a torn saddlebag. It didn’t get any better from there on out. That’s when the sound of a china plate breaking was heard. Deb looked down at her plate, finding it cracked in half. She often accidentally used magic when she let emotions take over. It was also often that the result would get her into trouble. Berry was oblivious to the event, gobbling down one strip of hay bacon after another. Aura took a quick glance at Deb’s mishaps then quickly looked down again, knowing she wouldn’t have wanted anypony to notice. Deb levitated the halves of her plate to the drop-off station nearby and left, without a word. No doubt she would be crying for her brother by the forest trail until she had to meet with the rest of her choir group by the auditorium. It wasn’t easy being your foal brother’s sort of guardian angel. ______________________________________________________________________________ As soon as Deb left, Aura sighed. Being an only child, she didn’t exactly know what it was like to have a sibling. That didn’t stop her from wanting one. One year older than Deb and a CSGU veteran of sorts, she took her under her wing (theoretically) and acted as an older sister to her. “B. Listen,” she said to the tomcolt. “We gotta help Deb out. She needs somepony for support.” The other mare looked up from her second plate of hay bacon. “And?” Aura gave her a bothered look. B was almost always like this, so it was surprising that she was still considered a friend. She had a habit of not really caring for other ponies’ feelings. 'We can’t change how they feel. Why should we even try?' she would always say. It always annoyed the living Tartarus out of Aura. “And?! You know how Deb gets when she gets depressed over her brother!” the mind reader pointed out. “Fiiine…” the tomcolt said. When Aura’s mind was set on something, she wouldn’t lose that thought until it was finally resolved. “Deb hasn't felt this terrible since she first came to Canterlot,” Aura stated. “Got any ideas?” “Well, Deb could do whatever nerd things she does. Like watch Doctor Whooves or something.” That comment resulted in a slap to the face courtesy of an angered Aura. When Aura got angry, that was usually a sign to run for cover. “Lauren Faust, what’s with you today?!” Aura shouted, catching the attention of ponies around her. She slammed her cup of apple juice on the table, which made even B cringe. “Look, I’m sorry, it slipped!” the still-shocked tomcolt apologized, but her “friend” wouldn't hear it. “Did you even learn from the friendship letters you sent to Princess Celestia? Because you sure as buck don’t act like you have. Even ‘The Great and Powerful Trixie’ would have learned more about friendship with her egotistic personality than your peanut-shaped mind can apparently comprehend!” Aura, who only got upset for rational reasons, carefully but hastily set her leftover food and cup at the drop-off station. The rest of the cafeteria was silent as this was going on. Before she left, she cast a glare back at Berry. “Don’t even plan on following me, B. Maybe if you actually learned some manners you would have friends to begin with.” And with that, she left. Other ponies could swear that Aura’s ears were steaming. Berry quickly finished her food and, without dropping it off, teleported back to her dorm room. Not even Mom in her drunken rage would be this...harsh. She took out a piece of paper from her desk, an ink pot, and a quill. Perhaps now she should actually write a letter she would actually mean. Opening a bottle of cider she smuggled in with her to drown away her sorrows, she began. Dear Celestia, today I learned to not be a dick… ______________________________________________________________________________ Deb was lying on a bench along the Canterlot School fitness trail. She was in front of the campus forest trail, where animals of many species could be sighted and watched. It was usually deserted as it was only used by classes of natural sciences during the school year, such as zoology and botany. Deb’s tears were streaming down her face. There were usually two types of melancholy she would normally face. The first and most common was depression. When she got letters from Treble about how much she missed her, how difficult his school life has been, or practically anything from Treble to begin with, she got slightly depressed. It would usually dissipate shortly though, as she often forced herself to socialize with her friends afterwards to forget about the issue. Then there was undeniable sadness, when she would actually cry. This didn't happen much at all (except, of course, the end of a season of Doctor Whooves or when she was a little filly and she wasn't allowed to ride on that spaceship at the mall) unless she was deeply hurt by something. In this case, it was her brother. She remembered getting a call on her Pear Phone 4 that she got as a present from her mom for being accepted. It was a few weeks before Hearth’s Warming break, and finals were coming up. She was into her music history report when she got the call. She thought she turned it off specifically for this reason, and answered. It was her dad, and he seemed to be in a state of panic that only meant that something terrible happened. That’s when she heard the news: Treble was literally almost bullied to death. At that moment, Treble was under intensive care after a group of colts caught up with him after school and attacked senselessly until a neighbor shooed them away. He arrived at the hospital, with reports of a broken hind leg and bloody coughing. Doctors said that he was not fatally wounded and would be able to recover in a month give or take. He had never needed her sister so much in his life. So, with permission from Princess Celestia, she was allowed to spend the entire recovering process with Treble at her own expense. She would receive the homework she would miss class for and, when she got back during break, would have to make up her finals immediately. To Deb and Treble both, it was worth it. It was her job to make Treble better, since he had no friends. He was always too shy to interact with other ponies ever since he was born, and it was always a hassle to convince him otherwise. He only had her and his stuffed animal that acted as a sort of imaginary friend. She would do all in her power to make sure he was happy, despite the life-threatening event he fell victim to. She made funny faces at him to make him laugh, she read him his favorite series, Captain Lyrapants, and even spent hours on end just watching TV with him. She didn’t even prank him once like she usually would, and instead helped him use the bathroom and shower, which she hoped at the time was worth it, considering that she had to wash his “colt parts” for him. ______________________________________________________________________________ As she was about to go deeper into her saddest memory, a familiar voice interrupted. “Hey, Deb.” Aura walked over to her, with a caring, motherly smile that Deb’s own wasn’t exactly known for giving. That was the good thing about having friends: they were always there to help you in times of need. Aura sat on what little space of the bench Deb didn’t take up. Deb immediately pushed herself up and hugged Aura, sobbing into her shoulder. This would almost never happen in public unless she was desperate; Really desperate, like a father whose son wandered off in a crowded mall, resulting in shouting for the colt until finally finding him. At least she knew how to take care of this problem, at least how a foal sitter would. She put her forelegs around Deb and hugged her. She was always there for her surrogate sister, and she always would be. It would be a long while before Deb would finally let up. “It’s almost time for voice classifications and rehearsal, Deb,” Aura pointed out. Deb just put her head down in response. “I’m not going,” Deb replied. “How come?” “You already know why.” And she did. Deb’s possessed heavy amounts of melancholic aura. She was reminiscing on the darker parts of her life, specifically what happened to her brother before her first winter break at CSGU. It hurt to read those emotions, and it was crystal clear that this was much more than the usual homesickness. “Why am I putting my brother through all this?” Deb asked her friend. “Maybe I’m just hurting him more.” “That’s not true,” Aura answered. “You cared about your brother’s future, and you’re trying to help him get comfortable with other ponies. If I were your mom, I would be proud of you. Plus, after afternoon rehearsal, everypony has the evening off. And you can still meet with your brother at lunch.” “But he needs to grow independent, doesn’t he?” Deb questioned. She really invited him to the camp so he can learn to become independent. Of course, he never told Treble that. Going to a camp meant that there would be a lot of ponies. With ponies, there would be bullies. And with bullies, there will be pain. Aura shook her head. “Just because you want him to be independent doesn’t mean that you have to completely isolate yourself from him. Plus, one pony can’t become completely independent…but rather interdependent.” Deb looked up in confusion, so Aura began to explain. “Being independent would mean that you would work completely on your own, without any help from others. The thing is, all ponies need help sometime, and working alone wouldn’t work. That’s when they have to rely on others in times of need. Like you are with me right now.” Aura paused to let the fact settle in. “Sure, your brother needs to learn to deal with things on his own more often. But what if something happened to him like that one early winter where-“ “Don’t talk about that!” Deb screamed, clearly at the aggressive point in her breakdown. “I told you that-” Aura raised a hoof to delay if not calm the uprising anger. Uneagerly, Deb shut her mouth so Aura could continue. “If that event happened to him, and he was unwilling to let anypony help him, what would happen?” Deb looked it away. It was clear that she was trying to avoid the thought. “Look, you can still spend time with your brother here. The fitness center should be open tonight. Does he swim?” Aura inquired. “…Yeah. Not as much as our dad, but he’s okay with swimming.” Deb said, giggling. “You should have seen him when he was learning how to. It was definitely a sight to see.” “Oh, I can imagine,” Aura retorted, as they proceeded to laugh. “We’re going to be late, Deb,” Aura informed, getting back on topic. “Yeah, let’s go. Oh, and Aura?” Aura, who was turned toward the auditorium, turned around again to be met by a hug. “Thank you.”