//------------------------------// // Chapter 9: The Painful Truth // Story: A Fresh Start // by QuilliamPenn //------------------------------// Chapter 9: The Painful Truth Monday, the first day of school, for Gears at least. Sketch made sure his little brother had everything he would need in his saddlebag, lunch, school supplies, notebooks, some bits; just in case, Lyra said he was worrying too much, and insisted on packing Gears, but Sketch would have none of it. “Ok, you double checked to make sure you had everything, right?” “Yes Sketch…” Gears sighed. “And you’re sure you have your lunch?” “You’re the one who put it in the bag…then unpacked everything to make sure you had put it in there.” He said with another annoyed sigh, hooding his eyes. “Alright, awesome!” He said, almost bouncing and completely ignoring the fact his brother was annoyed with him. “Do you want me to walk you there or…?” “NO!” Gears said hurriedly. “No…I know how to get there.” “Alright…” He said uncertainly, opening the front door as he spoke. “Thank you…” “Have fun, buddy…” Sketch said. “I will!” Gears said happily, turning and giving his brother a smile before bouncing off in the direction of the school. Sketch watched him bounce off until he was just a tiny speck in the distance, until Lyra had to practically pull him inside. “You think he’ll be alright?” Lyra grabbed Sketch’s head in her hooves. “I have said this like a million times. He. Will. Be. Fine.” “Yeah I know…I’m just worried he’ll get picked on or something.” He said, not at all comforted by Lyra’s words. “I know, but from what I have gathered from listening to you, Ponyville Schools are nothing like the stuff in Cloudsdale. You said they were very militaristic, with dress codes and all that. Ponyville schools are nothing like that. I promise.” She said, ruffling his mane. “If you say so…” “Now, we have to get you ready.” She said. “Ready?” “Uhh…you have a job you know?” She said, raising an eyebrow. “Oh yeah…” “What would you do without me Sketchy?” She said, bopping him playfully on the nose as she spoke. “I’d be very lost…” He said with a smile. “Damn Right, now you go get ready and I’ll clean up the breakfast dishes.” Sketch went into his bedroom as Lyra strode away to clean up breakfast. As he trotted into the bathroom, and started the water, he smiled as he realized how much of his current state of living could be taken directly from some scene from “Home and Gardens” magazine. He was sending his little brother off to school, and caring for him, and he was proud of it. On top of the fact the most wonderful mare in Equestria was living with him, everything seemed to be going pretty good. Of course he wasn’t sure how long it would last. He hadn’t seen hide nor tail of Bon Bon in a while, and it both worried him and comforted him at the same time. As he got in the shower, the gears in his head turned, trying to think of what Bon Bon could be up to. It comforted him because, well, he hadn’t had to hear, see or smell Bon Bon in a while. But on the other hoof, he hadn’t seen her in a while. His father had thought she could be enough of a threat, it convinced him to give Sketch a gun, and not just a little gun either, this was a big gun as far as handguns went. .44 , not exactly a pea-shooter. What if Bon Bon was plotting something? Was she crazy enough to do that? Would she try to mess with him, Lyra, or; Celestia forbid, With Gears? No, he wouldn’t let that happen. No one messed with Gears, he had been teased, hurt, and been through enough in his short span in this world, more than somepony his age should. That kind of crap could cause mental issues. He’d make sure Gears was safe from her. But still…he could do all he wanted to protect everypony he loved, and it still wouldn’t help him figure out what Bon Bon was up to. As he stepped out of the shower and dried off, a strange thought came to his head. What if Bon Bon was linked to the “Side Business” Applejack had spoken of so long ago? Could she be part of the reason that Big Mac seemed to be guarding the farm? Was she that crazy? “Wait…what the hell I am thinking. How would Applejack’s Mysterious personal life, be connected to Bon Bon…that doesn’t even make sense. Where the hell did I even get this idea?” He mentally slapped himself for letting his mind try to think up a good story, that wouldn’t even fit in any way shape or form. He shook his semi-dry mane and it poofed out to its natural, spiky look. Something he was constantly glad of, as he despised having to style it. He trotted out of the bathroom and into the kitchen, where Lyra had already finished the dishes, and was on the floor re-stringing her Lyre. “You smell that Lyra? That’s the smell, of ultimate cleanliness.” He said with a flourish. “No, I don’t smell anything, that’s how I know you’re clean.” She giggled. “Ouch. Harsh.” “Oh shush you.” She retorted. Sketch trotted over and sat down next to her, picking up one of the Lyre strings off the floor. “These are metal?” He said, surprise “Yes they are. And that means they can be bent, so you give me that.” She took the string from him and carefully set it down on the floor. “And you can hold this.” She handed him his saddlebag. “You’re in a hurry to get rid of me huh?” He said, nudging her playfully. “No, I just don’t want you to get fired; I’m a good Marefriend like that.” “Say, are you planning on going anywhere today?” He asked his previous thoughts of Bon Bon still fresh in his mind. “I was going to go visit Twilight, she should be back in Ponyville sometime this afternoon, other than that nothing. Why?” She looked over at him, uncertain of his motives. “Just curious.” He lied; why exactly he was lying he wasn’t sure. “I can tell when you’re lying…” He let out a sigh of defeat. “I’m worried, about the fact we haven’t seen or heard from Bon Bon. I’m afraid she might be-“ “Plotting Something?” She interrupted. “She very well may be, I wouldn’t put it past her, but everypony in Ponyville knows about her little outburst a while back, it’ll be awhile before she recovers from that, she hates being embarrassed. I highly doubt she’ll try anything else for a while.” “Alright…if you say so.” In truth, Lyra’s words were not at all comforting to him. All he had taken from what she had said was Bon Bon would in fact eventually do something, All this had done was make him even more on edge about it. Lyra; as usual, seemed to notice his distraught, and tried yet again to comfort him, or at least lighten the mood. “You know, you shouldn’t worry so much…You’ll age faster.” She said, deliberately stealing his line from earlier in the weekend, trying to cheer him up. “Ha. Ha.” He tried his best to refrain from smiling. Lyra beamed. “There’s a smile, now you should get going.” He nodded and gave an affirming grunt. He stood up and trotted over to his door, slipping his saddlebag on as he moved. Lyra put down her half-restrung Lyre and followed him. “You have a good day alright? Don’t let Bon Bon consume your thoughts.” “Yeah I know it.” “I love you.” She said, giving him a hug and a kiss. “Love you too!” “Go bring home the bacon Sketchy!” He raised an eyebrow. “Why do you want bacon?” Lyra groaned and facehoofed. “It’s…a figure of speech…” “Oh. Right…I’ll be going then…Bye.” “Bye Sketchy…” Sketch turned and walked out of his tiny front lawn, and out onto the road, he would do his very best to not let this whole “Bon Bon” thing consume his thoughts. He would have to or it could end up affecting his work, and that was one of the last things he wanted. &____________& What if she was going to try and set his house on fire or something, or…poison some food and try and mail it to him, what if she snuck in his house and robbed him blind? Or worse, what if- “Hey!” Sketch’s thoughts were interrupted by the rather annoyed voice of his boss, Applejack. “This is the third time I’ve had to be getting on yah for zoning out. What’s up with yah today? Yer less focused than a snake in a rat pit.” She reprimanded. “I’m sorry Applejack; I’m just pre-occupied is all. It won’t happen again I promise.” “That’s what yah said the first and second time, I need the last of these apples bucked before the cold front arrives, they can’t just sit out here, they’ll get all nasty.” Sketch said nothing. Applejack sighed and trotted over to him. “Y’all wanna talk about it?” “It’s just…You know what happened with Bon Bon right? She showed up at my door and causes one hell of a scene, and then made death threats?” “I uh…reckon I heard about it, yeah.” She said, the tiniest bit of concern tainting her southern tone. “Well, I just can’t seem to get it out of my head. I’m worried that she will try to hurt the ponies I care for…” Applejack absorbed what he had said for a moment, the gears in her head were very obviously formulating a good response. “Listen, I’ve lived here longer than most ponies in this town, hell, I was raised here, and Bon Bon has been here almost as long as I have, I don’t know her personally, but I do know how she acts, I really don’t think she’ll go that far Sketch. You really shouldn’t worry about it. T’aint the first time she’s made a death threat or something of the like, Hell a while back she got real mad at me because-“ Applejack stopped herself, her eyes widened and she looked around nervously. “Wait…You said you didn’t know her personally.” He said, eyeing his boss suspiciously. “Uh…” “Applejack, if you know something about her you need to tell me. Are Lyra and Gears in danger?” “I’ve said too much...It ain’t my place to-“ “No Applejack, You know something. Something that you thought was important enough to not tell me about.” “I…I….” Sketch stared daggers into his boss’s green eyes. Applejack gave a sigh of defeat and sat down on the ground. “I assume that Lyra told y’all about what happened with Bon Bon, how she got drunk and everything.” “Yeah…wait, how’d you…” “Because…I’m the one who sold it to her.” Sketch was silent. “I sold Bon Bon the Hard Cider…The farm hadn’t exactly been shelling out all that much in the way of money…A few weeks ago…I took to making Hard Cider, Big Mac agreed to help, just as long as we didn’t tell granny or Applebloom, I reckon it would have up and broken their hearts.” Sketch felt weak all of a sudden, he was right…Applejack was linked to Bon Bon…what the hell was going on? He had to sit down, and he did so with a rather loud “Thunk” “It was just supposed to be a one-time thing…something to bring in a bit of extra cash…but then we started making some really good money… Eventually We were selling to all kinds of characters…shady ponies, diamond dogs…even a changeling that lived in Everfree…Then around the time you showed up, Bon Bon found out about our exploits, she said she wanted to buy some, and I didn’t ask why, I never did. That was the cider that she gave to Lyra…I guess she ended up getting what she wanted, and she slept with-“ “I-I don’t need to hear that. I already heard it once…just skip it.” “Err…Right…anyways…the next day, Applebloom almost found out what we were doing…and I decided that we had to stop…it wasn’t right…I reckon the stuff we were making wasn’t entirely legal. So Big Mac and I agreed to shut it down…we would find another way, we already had enough money to keep the farm running for a few more months, and Big Mac suggested hiring another hoof to help out.” “But you were short on money, why would you-“ “So he could keep watch, the day after I shut the operation down, Bon Bon showed up again, demanding more. I tried to tell her we were done with it, that it was wrong and illegal…but she got so mad…she grabbed this shovel and…tried to hit me with it, but Big Mac stepped in front of it and she sliced his back up real bad …that’s why he had that bandage, he was afraid if she was crazy enough to come after me with a shovel…she might come back and try to do something even worse…” “But he said something about another stallion that you-“ “It was made up. It was a story I told Applebloom, that we had hired a “night worker”, she had never even seen this stallion, but she believed he existed, why would she think otherwise, she had no reason to think I was lying to her. So I made up this elaborate cover story, about how there was an accident and that was why Big Mac had been hurt, because he got in a fight with the other stallion, caught him trying to steal the apples. I was too much of a chicken to fess up ‘n’ tell her the truth…I told Big Mac to play it up too, the whole story, especially to you. I was just….so ashamed of what I did…I couldn’t bear to say anything…I’m so sorry Sketch…” Sketch’s mind was reeling, how was he supposed to deal with this? Applejack was supposed to be the Element of Honesty, he never thought she would have lied to him, especially about something so serious, was he supposed to just forgive her and move on? Or should he get angry, he had every right to be angry of course, but he also felt sorry for Applejack, all she had tried to do was keep her lifestyle afloat, but she could have endangered the lives of others by doing it. “I’ll finish these apples later; you take the rest of the day off, go home. I reckon-“ “No. No, no, no.” He interrupted. Applejack looked rather surprised. “Applejack, you knew she was this dangerous, you knew about me and Lyra, and the connections between everypony involved, and you didn’t tell me. You could have endangered lives. If she is crazy enough to go after you with a shovel, what’s to say she wouldn’t carry out her death threats without a second thought?” “I’m sorry Sketch, I really am, I just-“ “What if she had actually done something, what if she had hurt Lyra, or my little brother, before you had told me? That would have been on you, just as much as it would have been on me. I just don’t get how you’re supposed to represent the Element of Honesty, and-“ “Don’t you pull that shit with me, Nopony is perfect, Element Holder or not, that don’t matter. All of us have broken what we represented more than a few times, its pony nature. It’s just how the world works. I understand that yer upset, Y’all have every right to be, but don’t pull the whole “Element Holder” card on me. Now I’m mighty sorry I didn’t tell you about it, but what would you have done in my situation?” Sketch reeled back a bit. “I…I would have…” “Exactly, you can’t decide, and you ain’t even the one who was in the whole damn mess. How do you think I felt? All I was trying to do was keep my farm alive, and I-“ “It doesn’t matter, Farm or not, It doesn’t justify your actions Applejack, I just….I wish you had told me.” “I…I know…” Sketch glared at her, he didn’t want to see her right now, he was angry, very angry, not so much that Applejack hadn’t told him, but angry that she could have endangered his loved ones. “I’m going home. You can find somepony else’s loved ones to endanger, I’m done.” He said, turning and trotting off. “Wait…what are you-“ He stopped and turned his head, glaring back at her. “I quit.” And without another word, he left Applejack, alone, as she silently cried in shame, in the middle of Sweet Apple Acers. &_________________& Dammit he was so mad, why couldn’t she have just told him? She knew Lyra could have been hurt, Gears as well. Why hadn’t she told him!? He hated that she hadn’t told him, it was all that consumed his thoughts. Now not only was he angry, but he was out of a job. Sketch grumbled to himself as he stormed down the road, he had been at the farm for quite a while, and it was already time to go pick up Gears from school. “Time flies when life throws big-ass surprises at you…” He grumbled, kicking the dirt as he walked. He wondered if Lyra was at Twilight’s, maybe he should stop by, say hi, and maybe tell Twilight all about Applejack’s deceit. No, he shouldn’t do that. He was better than that, he didn’t want to do that because it may or may not be the right thing to do, and He wanted to do it to be mean, to hurt AJ. “Oh, why must misfortune follow me wherever I go…?” He moaned. “Misfortune? What Misfortune?” A rather happy sounding voice chimed, rather suddenly. Sketch let out a yelp and almost fell over in surprise; the voice came from the figure of the constantly bubbly and happy mare, known as Pinkie Pie. “Hey Pinkie…” “Hello!” She said, standing only a few inches from him. “You-“ “Shouldn’t sneak up on ponies like that?” She said, cocking her head. “Yeah I know, but you looked really down in the dumps, I figured a scare might cheer you up!” He chuckled. “How would a scare cheer me up?” “You just giggled didn’t you?” She said, her happy, bouncy tone never faltering. “Fair enough.” He said, and started back on his way to the school. Pinkie Pie, obviously not done visiting with him, started bouncing after him. “So whatcha up to?” “I’m actually going to pick up my little brother from school.” “Oh! I love kids! I Foalsit for Mr. and Ms, Cake! Kids are superdiddlyoshious!” She said, with an extremely large smile. “Superdiddly-what now?” “Superdiddlyoshious! It’s a word, I made it up, plus it gives me something funny to say for this chapter and provides a bit of much needed comical relief, due to recent plot development and all!” “What are you….You don’t make sense sometimes…” “Yeah I get that a lot.” “I’ll bet.” “So can I come with you, to the school? I haven’t met your brother, plus like I said, I love, love, love kids!” “I don’t see why not.” He said, finding himself smiling for some reason. “Awesome! Plus, we can talk about all sorts of stuff!” “Yes, we can!” He said happily, finding himself almost bouncing as he walked. “Soooooo, what’s up?” “Well, I quit my job.” He said, but happily, he just couldn’t seem to be down around Pinkie, it was like she radiated this aura of happy that infected everyone around her. “Ooooh. I bet there’s an interesting story behind that!” “There is, but it involves a possible stalker, lots of bad stuff, and death threats.” Her pupils shrunk. “Oh my!” She said, still bouncing. “Not exactly a happy topic.” He said with a light laugh. “Well, are you ok? Do you need help or anything?” She asked, very obviously concerned but still maintaining her bouncy attitude and demeanor. “Nope! I’m good, thank you though!” He said, not entirely sure he was telling the truth. Did he need help? “Okie dokie lokie! Just let me know, I love helping out my friends!” “Thank you Pinkie.” He smiled. Sketch had originally found Pinkie Pie to be a bit eccentric, but now that he was talking to her; well, forced to talk to her, he found her to be rather pleasant. She seemed to thoroughly enjoy talking to him, even if the topic didn’t seem to be something she liked. What he had originally thought would be a long, annoying walk to the school, turned out to be rather pleasant, and he found himself much happier than before, despite recent events. Eventually the pair made their way to the schoolhouse; they had arrived a bit early however, and took shelter from the sun under a large tree that had grown up on a hill near the school. As they rested, Sketch’s mind inevitably drifted to the events from earlier that morning. How was he supposed to handle this? Never before in his life had he been in this sort of situation, and he had been in plenty of messed up situations, but nothing like this. His mind raced as dozens of different thoughts bounced around his brain, he couldn’t think straight. He would try to grasp one idea or thought, only for another one to bump it away and take its place, causing a maddening stream of jumbled thoughts. He just didn’t know how to handle this, he could go to the police, but then he would have to get Applejack or Big Mac to come and spill everything, potentially ruining their farm business by exposing their illegal operations. On the other hoof however, if he didn’t go to the police, BonBon could try to hurt Lyra or Gears, and that was the last thing he wanted. He wanted to just tell Lyra, he wanted her help, he needed her help. He had grown rather accustomed to her point of view on things; more often than not her insight was extremely helpful. However, all that aside, she was the focal point of everything that was going on, she needed to know. “You do alright there?” Pinkie said, interrupting Sketch’s thoughts. He looked over at Pinkie, and for a moment said nothing. Should he tell her? Would she go around and tell everypony? Pinkie did love to talk, but would she blab about something so serious? Maybe not to everypony, but almost certainly her fellow Elements. “Helloooooo?” She sang. “Uh…Hi…Pinkie.” Sketch barely managed to croak out. “Hi!” She said cheerfully, as if he weren’t acting strange at all. “Hey, Pinkie. Can I ask you something serious?” “Ohhh Serious? What is it? Is there a manticore somewhere, or-or a dragon? Oh no…did you lose your notebook? You didn’t lose-“ He waved a hoof at her. “No, No, Nothing like that.” He said in a slightly annoyed tone. He was beginning to think he would regret mentioning anything to her in the first place. “What if…you had a secret you knew, one that could potentially bring harm to other ponies if you revealed it, but it could also bring harm to ponies if you didn’t.” Pinkies face twisted into a look of complexion. “Oh…that is a serious question…” She said, sitting down on the ground and staring hard at seemingly nothing. The two sat in silence for what seemed like half an hour, before Pinkie eventually spoke up. “I…I think I would…I would think about it. Long and hard, think about what would happen in the long-run. Sometimes, We can never know for sure what will come of our choices until we are brave enough to make them, that’s life. Sometimes, at the end of the day…we just have to do what we think is best for our loved ones…” Sketch reeled back a bit at Pinkie Pie’s sudden change in demeanor; he had never seen her get serious like that before. Yet even so, her words were somewhat comforting, much to his surprise, Pinkie had actually given some decent advice. He had made his choice. He would tell Lyra. “BRIIIINNGGG” The School bell suddenly rang through the air; it rang loud and clear for a few seconds, followed by a short, utter, silence. “Boy, it got really quiet…” Pinkie whispered. The silence was interrupted a few seconds later, by the sound of doors opening and dozens of foals pouring out of the school house, Sketch looked around nervously for his little brother, anxious to hear if he had had a good day or not. “Oh! I see him, I see him!” Pinkie Bounced up and down, pointing into the large crowd of foals. “I don’t…” He looked hard into the crowd, eventually however, he spotted his brother, in the rear of the crowd and talking with an orange filly, Sketch recognized the filly as Scootaloo, one of the three “Cutie Mark Crusaders” that had nearly run him over shortly after he moved to Ponyville. “Gears!” He called, over the large-ish crowd of young ponies. Somehow Gears managed to hear his older brother over all the other ponies, and his ears stood on end as he scanned the area. “Oh! I think he sees us!” Pinkie said. Sure enough Gears spotted his brother and after waving bye to Scootaloo, he pushed his way through the crowd of small ponies, a few moments later he came out the other side, and trotted up the hill to meet his brother. “Hey Sketch, Who’s your friend?” He said in a happy tone. “I’m Pinkie Pie!” Pinkie said before Sketch could introduce her. She stuck out her hoof and shook Gears’ own. This surprised Sketch just a bit, as Gears actually shook back instead of his normal shyness. “Well aren’t you awfully social.” He said to his little brother. “Oh yeah! I made lots of friends today! They said I could join their club and everything!” Gears was almost bouncing with happiness. “Awesome, you can tell me all about it on the way home!” “Speaking of home, I better get going! I’m supposed to help Mr. and Ms. Cake make some cookies soon, and I don’t wanna miss out on that!” Pinkie said with a smile. “Cookies huh?” “Yep! So I better get going, it was great meeting you Gears! Maybe sometime you can come over and I’ll show you how to make cookies!” She said, bouncy as ever. Gears’ eyes lit up. “Oh, I like cookies! That’d be lots of fun!” “Awesome! Just stop by Sugarcube Corner sometime and Ol Pinkie’ll show you how!” “Alright Gears, let’s go. Bye Pinkie, Thanks for everything!” Sketch said as he began to trot off towards his home. “See yah later!” Pinkie called, bouncing off to Sugarcube corner. “So, How was school?” Sketch asked after he and Gears had walked for a few minutes. “Oh it was great, Everypony was nice, and Miss Cherilee is a great teacher!” “So you made friends?” “Oh yes! Well, just one. Her name is Scootaloo. She’s pretty cool.” “Oh yeah?” “Yeah! I told her all about my inventions and she was super excited, she said she wanted to see them sometime!” “Maybe…We’ll have to see.” “Oh come on!” Gears whined. “It’s not like I’m going to get all…squishy…like you and Miss Lyra!” Sketch blushed a bit and flustered. “H-hey, that’s my business.” “How come she lives with you anyway…I didn’t know I’d have to share you when I found out I was moving here…” Sketch tripped and almost fell over in surprise. He hadn’t thought of how to explain Lyra’s situation to Gears…he couldn’t just try and change the topic, no, Gears was too smart for that, he wasn’t going to let up on this until he got his answers. What was he supposed to do? “Maybe…I’ll see if Scootaloo can come over at some point this week, alright?” Sketch said, knowing how futile his actions were, but carrying them out regardless. “Nice try…Why won’t you tell me why she’s living with you?” Sketch sighed. “You’re…too young to understand it…I don’t-“ “I am not too young! I’m almost a teenager you know!” Gears blurted out, apparently not liking being called young all of a sudden. Again Sketch let out a sigh, as they continued walking, this time a sigh of defeat. “Listen, Lyra had some problems with her roommate…they got in a fight, a big one, so…she’s staying with me for a while until things calm down.” Gears scanned his older brother carefully, looking for any signs of him spewing falsehoods. “A fight…like…like mom and dad would get into?” He said, in an all too innocent voice. Sketch’s eyes widened. “Uh…yeah, kinda like that…” “Oh…I didn’t know that…I miss mom and dad…” Gears sighed. “I know bud…I miss them too.” He held his breath, hoping his brother wouldn’t delve deeper into the current topic; he really didn’t want to have to explain all of that to his brother, not at that time at least. In Sketch’s opinion Gears was too young to need to be troubled by the kind of crap involving his parents. He should be happy, and get to live out his childhood with as little dark memories as possible. “When will we see mom again, will she come to visit like daddy does?” Gears asked. Shit. He might as well just tell him…what was the point in keeping it a secret, better he find out from his brother than he find out from somepony else. “Mom…” He stopped, he didn’t know what to say, how to word it. How to explain to his brother that his mother and father hated each other, and that he would most likely never see his mother again…He looked down at his little brother, his emerald eyes held so much knowledge, more than Sketch could ever hope to fathom, so much potential and personality. He didn’t want to risk losing that…that spark, he didn’t want to tell his brother they wouldn’t ever see their mother again, but he knew he needed to…the damage that could be done if he lied now could be irreparable. “Mom…mom left, Gears. She did a bad thing that broke the trust between her and dad…and so…she left. Dad said we probably won’t see her again…at least not for a long time, I-I’m sorry.” Gears was silent, he stared up at his brother, his face had become soft and he looked much younger all of a sudden, his eyes softened and he took in a shaky breath. “M-mom, left? B-but…I thought…we were a family…”He said, very obviously trying not to cry. “Aren’t families supposed t-to stick together…?” Sketch hung his head and was silent. “W-what about…” Gears was starting to lose it. “S-she can’t just…this isn’t fair!” Sketch stuck a hoof out just in time to receive his brother, who was now crying softly into his chest. He sat there and cradled his baby brother, in the middle of the road, not caring if anypony else saw or heard what was happening. He needed to comfort Gears, not worry about what anypony else had to say. He held his brother as he tried to form words though his sobs, and failed. He hugged him closer and stroked his little brothers sandy-black mane, his tiny body quivering in utter sadness. He thought maybe he should say something right at that moment or allow his brother to let it all out; get it out of his system. Sketch pulled his brother away from him gently and sat him down across from him, his emerald eyes were puffy and red, tears still streaming from them. He wiped away some of the tears and put a hoof on his brothers shoulder. “I’m going to do my very best to care for you, alright? I know you’re going to miss mom… we’re still a family, you and I…and I’m not going anywhere, ever. I promise.” Gears hugged his older brother’s arm and sniffled. “But…what about mom…a-and…” “Hey…” Sketch stroked his brother’s mane. “We’ll be alright…you and I are a team, alright?” Gears closed his eyes and hugged his brothers arm for a moment, before silently and shakily breathing, “Ok…” “I love you buddy…I always will.” He nuzzled his little brother as he spoke. “I love you too…” Gears hugged his brother tighter for a moment, then pulled away and wiped his tears. “You ready to go?” Sketch asked softly. “Y-yeah.” Gears said with a shaky breath. “Here, you hop on my back, I’ll carry you the rest of the way.” He smiled at Gears, hoping this would cheer him up just a tiny bit. Sure enough it did, and he gave a tiny smile as he replied. “I’d like that…thanks.” Sketch crouched down so his brother could climb up, Gears sat much like Lyra had when Sketch had carried her home not too long ago, except he was smaller and easier to balance. Gears curled up in a tiny ball on his brothers back and they set off towards home, after a few minutes, Gears had fallen asleep and was softly snoring on his brothers back as he carefully trotted home. Sketch felt awful for his brother, having to deal with that, having to try and understand it at such a young age, even as smart as he was. Maybe that was why Gears hadn’t reacted quite as violently as he could have, because he understood the situation, if only a little bit. Either way Sketch felt awful. No matter how smart or tough a pony was, having to tell your sibling that they would never see their mother again hurt. As he approached his house, he realized he had forgotten to go see if Lyra was at Twilight’s house. “Oh well, I guess I’ll see her when she gets back.” It was probably for the best anyway, Gears needed to rest, not go traipsing around Ponyville. As he neared his house, Sketch went to grab the key from his saddlebag, and when he got closer, he realized it was already unlocked. “That’s odd…” Lyra had a key to the house, and she always locked it when she left, she had made a habit to do so. Had she forgot to lock it when she left, or was she home already? He reached out and pushed the door open slowly. “Why is it so dark?” He thought to himself. He stepped inside slowly; being careful not to jar his sleeping brother, as he shut the door behind him. “Lyra, you home?” He whispered, trying not to wake his brother. No response. Not thinking much of it, he turned and groped in the dark for the light switch, finding it after a moment and flicking it to “on” The lights flicked on, illumination the living room with a soft light. “Huh…I guess some of the bulbs-“ “Oh, good…” Came a voice. “No…” “You’re home.” Sketch turned around to see, there, standing in the middle of his living room, holding what looked like a kitchen knife. Was Bon Bon. Bon Bon had moved Sketch’s chair over to the other side of the room, and was sitting in it, playing with the long knife she wielded, luckily it looked clean, meaning she hadn’t hurt anypony…yet. However what really scared Sketch, wasn’t BonBon, but the unconscious figure lying on the floor, hooves bound with rope, was Lyra, she was bleeding from a small wound on the side of her head. “Bon Bon…you better not have-“ “Don’t worry, she’s alive. You know, originally I had planned to kill you when you were on your way to pick up the brat currently asleep on your back, but then that psycho bitch Pinkie had to get in the way, and I simply couldn’t properly dispose of both your bodies at one time, out in the open.” BonBon twirled the knife around as she spoke. “BonBon…just…put the knife down…” “So… instead, I circled back around and managed to catch Lyra as she was leaving for Twilight’s…” BonBon kicked Lyra in the stomach, apparently waking her up. Lyra let out a weak groan and moved a bit… “Lyra!” Sketch called. Lyra’s body seemed to tense up, he could see her ears pricked up a bit and she weakly opened one eye. “S-Sketch?” she croaked softly. “Lyra! Sketch! Ohhhhh” Bon Bon mocked In a nasty tone. “Spare me your drama you pathetic shits." “Don’t hurt her…” Sketch said, trying his best to sound confident. “Hurt her? Why would I hurt her? I need her to watch…” “Watch…what’re you-“ “Watch me kill you of course…” BonBon “W-what-“ “You see, after you wouldn’t let me see her that day…I realized, I wasn’t going to get what wanted as long as you were in the picture, realized maybe I could still save her from you…so I went home, and I thought up this glorious plan to kill you…” “What stopped you…?” Sketch said, keeping an eye on the softly moaning form of Lyra. “She told you she loved you…that’s what.” Bon Bon hissed and stood up rather suddenly, glaring at Sketch. “I followed you that night in the rain; I had planned to kill you then. It would have been perfect too, I smash the window, you come outside alone, trying to make sure Lyra is safe inside. Then I come out of the alley and slit your throat, and poor Lyra is left grief-ridden, outside on her knees as the rainwater runs red with your blood, then here comes BonBon, just happening to have been caught in the rain. I show up and comfort the grieving Lyra and take her home, and then she and I could have been together…” BonBon’s eyes changed, her tone became more angry and crazed, not like before. “But no…you had to fucking kiss her the night before…then she ran off because she was so confused. So you thought you had the right to be allowed to go and comfort her, even after you hurt her so bad. I couldn’t kill you if she wasn’t there, otherwise you’d already be dead. So I had to wait, wait for the right moment when she would come running you, just in time to watch the life leave your pathetic eyes!” Her voice was beginning to get louder now; she had stopped twirling the knife and was gripping it firmly. She took a step forward as she spoke. Gears stirred and let out a sleepy moan, he had woken up thanks to BonBon. “Oh look, the brat is awake! Good, he can watch too…” “W-what….Sketch who is…” Gears yawned sleepily and tried to figure out what was happening. “Gears…just, stay behind me alright…” “W-who is that…, why does she have a knife…” He said in a scared voice. BonBon laughed maniacally. “I’m going to kill your brother with this knife…and you’re going to watch.” Sketch saw it, maybe it was adrenaline or something but he saw it, that moment when your body tenses up for a half second, right before performing something that requires strength or speed. BonBon lunged for Gears, Knife raised high, in a split second Sketch ran and headbutted her Ribcage, sending her flying into the fireplace, there was a dull “thwump” and she hit the brick, followed by a second soft “thump”, The sound of the knife hitting the floor. “Gears! Go get help! Run!” Sketch yelled, still in front of his brother. Gears nodded but didn’t say anything. He turned and ran for the door just as Sketch felt something hit his side, hard. He felt something inside him snap as he went flying into a wall. BonBon had righted herself and was bleeding from her temple, she didn’t even seem to notice however, as she was looming over Sketch and chuckling. “No matter…we don’t need your brother…I’ll just kill him later…” Sketch tried to right himself but was stopped by the insane amount of pain emanating from his side, eliciting yet another maniacal laugh from BonBon. “Y-you won’t…touch, Gears…” “Oh really? What are you going to do about it?” She said with a crazed smile, her bloodshot eyes watching him carefully. Again he tried to get up, this time almost getting to his feet, before he received yet another kick from BonBon, this time to the stomach. Sketch doubled over in pain, he tried to keep himself from vomiting, and regain his ability to breathe properly. BonBon again let loose a cruel laugh. “Ohh…maybe I won’t kill you, maybe, I’ll just beat the shit out of you until there isn’t anything left to identify you as a pony!” She grabbed his mane and pulled; hard, forcing him up. Damn she was strong. “I like that Idea…maybe break all your legs…your wings, then let you writhe in your own filth and watch the life slowly leave your wretched body as I crush your windpipe…” Sketch glared at her, and in response spit in her face. BonBon growled and threw him, by his mane, into the fireplace. His head hit the brick with a “Crack” and he slumped down, a dull pain throbbing in the back of his head, he let out a cry of pain and held the back of his head with one hoof. Was it because of the adrenaline that BonBon was so strong? He watched, through blurry vision, as BonBon walked past him and over to Lyra. “N-no!” He croaked, and stuck out a hoof, tripping BonBon. Bon Bon fell flat onto the floor, letting out a yelp of surprise as she fell. Slowly, Sketch stood up, somehow finding the strength. He had to protect his loved ones…He launched himself with all his might into BonBon, who was still recovering from her faceplant into the floor. He hit her shoulder and she toppled over yet again, this time letting out a roar of anger, in the confusion she kicked Sketch square in the chin, yet again sending his mind into a state of dizziness. “Y-you’ve got a little bit more fight in you than I had expected…” She said, finally righting herself. He only moaned and tried to make everything stop spinning. “But…in the end I’m still going to get what I want…” BonBon stood over him, now brandishing her shiny knife; apparently she had landed near it and grabbed it before she got up. “And what I want, is you, dead!” She lunged. Somehow Sketch managed to turn in such a way that she still landed on top of him, but he grabbed her arms and just barely held the knife inches from his chest, she growled and pushed harder, she wasn’t quite as weakened as he was, and he was struggling to hold her back. With another growl she repositioned herself and put all of her body weight on top of the knife, pressing it horrifyingly close to his chest. He could feel the point of the blade with each breath he took, as it came ever so close to piercing him. She stared into his eyes, quite obviously having an idea. “You’ll die…and the last thing you’ll see is me…” With an evil chuckle, BonBon kneed his stomach. Everything went silent. His front legs gave out and he instinctively tried to double over, he couldn’t breathe and what BonBon had done took the last of the energy out of him. It was as if all he could hear was the blade, as it was pressed in, almost to the hilt. He couldn’t breathe, his chest felt heavy, his lungs seemed to get heavy, his front legs gave out and fell to his sides, he could only watch as BonBon smiled manically, letting out a laugh of triumph as her bloodshot eyes widened in crazed happiness over what she had done. He coughed up blood as his vision began to fade, but just then. BonBon stopped. Her eyes changed from a look of joy to one of confusion, and in one jerky motion, collapsed over next to Sketch. As his vision grew darker and darker, he heard Lyra calling him, beckoning him to come join her, in heaven.