//------------------------------// // The Day // Story: Finding Home // by Auto-Buscus //------------------------------// Six years old, and even more wired up and full of energy, Singer was getting too rambunctious for Canterlot's syle. The whole family was, really. It had been time for the family to consider relocating. The one that didn't mind the most, was Brawn. He'd hated living in Canterlot with all the snobs and Canterlot guards running around. Now thirteen years old, he was beginning to get more daring and often into more trouble at school. Almost a week before this day, a guard had escorted him home after he had gotten into a fight in the park with some unicorn colt from school. The guard issued a warning to Belle, who was the only one who had answered the door when the guard had showed up. Singer had been oblivious to the potential move. Had he found out, it really wouldn't have bothered him much. He didn't like being in the confined spaces of this house, and he couldn't exactly zip around in town either where there was just so much going on. But one day, Belle had finally gotten up the nerve to allow Singer to go to the park. Other than his kindergarten class, Singer didn't really go out much. He'd spend most of his time singing to himself in his room, or annoying Brawn. Belle decided that it was indeed time for him to go play in the park and try to mingle with other kids his age. Belle, however would be too busy with housework that day and Grandma Joy was out of town, so she'd have to recruit either Fender or Brawn. Brawn was grounded, so her only logical choice was Fender. "Fender?" she said, knocking on his door. "Yeah, what is it?" "Can I ask a favor of you?" "Sure." "Can you please take Singer to the park?" Fender then opened his door and peaked his head out. This had been a bit of a surprise to him, since he knew that Singer rarely left the house. "You mean to tell me that you want Singer to go out? I thought you didn't..." "I think he's ready to go out and meet new ponies. The poor little guy's always being kept inside all of the time and I think it will be good for him." said Belle. "Can you do that for me? It would be much appreciated." "Yeah... I think I can manage that." "Thank you, Fender! It's very much appreciated!" "No problemo, Belle! Just let me finish tuning my guitar, and I'll take the little squirt to the park." "Okay, take your time." Once Fender had finished his tuning he went to knock on Singer's door. He and Singer had a special knock that they shared. Fender would knock five times, and Singer would knock twice if he would allow company, the roles reversing if it was the other way around. He knocked five times, and waited for Singer to respond. After about ten seconds, he got the two knocks of acceptance, which meant he was clear for entry. "Hey little buddy, guess what?" "What?" "We're going to go to the park today! Mom's orders!" "REALLY?!?" said Singer, seemingly awe struck at what Fender had just told him. The dramatics of children. "Yep. Come on, grab any toy that you want to if you're going to. We leave in five minutes." "Okay!" said Singer grabbing his yellow ball. "Thank you Uncle Fender!" "Yeah, no problemo brah!" said Fender as he pulled the happy colt off of his leg. Fender led Singer through the house, not failing to meet Belle on the way out. She was happy to see him so excited about leaving the house. Her furniture couldn't take much more of his energy, being that he'd always bounce on it. "Remember Singer, behave and listen to your uncle Fender!" "I will!" He said happily. "I love you!" "Love you too mom!" Although he was a rambunctious and high wired child, he was suprisingly obedient... for the most part anyway. His mother went back to doing what she had been doing when they walked by, she was making soup for dinner. She looked up one more time and watched them fly off, still a little nervous about him going out for the first time. She had been the same way with Brawn, but not so bad due to him being alot more layed back than Singer was. She trusted Fender, even though he could be a bit wild at times. She didn't really approve of his dredlog mane style either. She put her focus back on her work and left that train of thought for later. Singer was overjoyed. It was his first time out in the park and he loved everything that he saw about it. He saw squirrels running up trees, birds flying around the branches and making nests, someponies walking their dogs, and other kids playing together. It had been everything that he had heard Brawn say it was. He turned his attention to the monkey bars and went for those first. Fender found a bench to sit down at so he could watch Singer and make sure he stayed out of trouble. There was a lot of activity at the park today. Singer couldn't find an excuse to be bored even if he tried. Once he got tired of the monkey bars, he scoped the area, looking around for anypony who might want to play with him. His attention was then drawn to a young white unicorn colt who had been playing by himself with his mother nearby. "He looks like he could use somepony to play with" said Singer to himself. He then marched over to the young colt, hoping silently that he'd feel like playing with him. As he drew closer, the young colt became aware of his presence. The colt looked up with a smile, as if he was waiting for Singer to say something. "Are you going to speak or do I have to pull it out of your head?" laughed the colt. The colt was a white unicorn with a blue mane, and he appeared to be friendly enough to Singer, so he figured the bashfulness had reached it's usefulness. "I-I'm Singer" said our young colt, still a little nervous. "What's your name?" "I was born, Diamond Sword!" said the colt. "But you can just call me Sword if you want to. "Nice to meet you Sword. I was just coming over to ask you if I could play with you." "Mom, can Singer play with me?" "I don't see why not. Just remember your manners!" lectured Sword's mother. "Yes, ma'am." "You may go further around the park, but do not wonder off too far." "Of course" said Sword. "See ya mom!" "Have fun!" Singer and Diamond Sword took off and ran around the park together, tossing Singer's yellow ball back and forth to each other. They had been having a contest to see who would let it hit the ground first. Both had advantanges, Singer could fly and Diamond Sword could use his magic to keep it up if he needed to. No rules forbidding it had been made up by the two, so they just carried on. "Looking a little tired, Sword" said Singer trying to make him lose focus. "Not near as tired as you do" countered Sword. "How much longer do you think you can keep this up?" said Singer. "You're about to fall down! Ha ha!" All of that energy that Singer had, had finally paid off for something. It helped him outlast Diamond Sword, who eventually gave in to his tiredness and called it game by allowing th eball to hit the ground. "How am I supposed to know this ball isn't rigged?" said Diamond Sword. "How do you rig a ball?" said Singer. "Good question." Suddenly a disturbance in the park aroused. A group of unicorn fillies and colts stood around, watching as yellow and red maned unicorn filly bullied a small lavendar colored unicorn filly. Singer and Diamond Sword also joined the group as the poor filly lied on the ground, covering her eyes. "You really need to learn to watch where you're going, you little bookworm! You nearly ran into me!" shouted the bully. "But... you tripped me..." replied the little filly. "Oh I did, huh? You want to say that again?" "I... um... no?" The bully's friends began to laugh and point at the little filly, who was now crying on the ground while holding one of her books close to her. Singer's blood began to boil with anger, but then he also began to feel a sense of fear inside as well. He wanted to stand up to the bully, but he was afraid that she might in turn bully him as well. He didn't have much more time to think about it, because after that. The bigger filly had had her fun and walked off, leaving the poor little filly alone, crying with her books scattered all over the ground. Singer walked over to the little filly, and looked over the scene with a compassionate expression to his face. For the first time in his life, he didn't feel like saying anything. He picked up her books and placed them back into her bag, which the bully had taken the time to empty out. The little filly looked up while Singer put her books in her bag for her. It had been a nice gesture, but it still didn't make up for his lack of taking a stand, at least not in his mind. The filly wanted to thank him, but he flew off before she had the chance to. After a while of wondering what could have been, he later found his uncle asleep on the park bench. After that scene with the filly, Diamond Sword had to leave, so he was pretty much by himself again. He figured it was time to go home, anyway so he walked over to his sleeping uncle to wake him up. "Uncle Fender. Wake up." said Singer. "Oh... hey squirt! You ready to go already?" "Yes Uncle Fender." "Okay, well don't forget your ball." Singer grabbed his yellow ball and followed his uncle back to the house. He still couldn't get over that guilty feeling he had. Should he have done more? He decided that he would talk to either his mom or his grandma about it once he got home. They were always the ponies that he could count on to help him. Belle had had dinner ready and was awaiting her husband's return from work. She had made Brawn set the table as a part of his grounding. Brawn's annoyance had increased when his bouncy little brother entered the house followed by Uncle Fender. "Hi Brawn!" said Singer. "Shut up, you little..." "Brawn!" yelled Belle. "You apologize to your brother right now! Don't take your anger out on him! He's not the one who got you in trouble, you did." Brawn mumbled something under his breath, then turned to Singer and gave a half hearted apology to him. Singer didn't really seem to care either way, but his mother did. "Now go to your room! I'll bring you your dinner in a little while." As Brawn went back to his room, Briefs returned from home at last. He looked like he normally did when he got home. Tired and irratable. "Hey dear, how was work?" Belle said giving him a small kiss on his cheek. "Taxing... very very taxing." Briefs said as he sat down at the table. "My client for this case that I'm doing is a total snob! I am so looking forward to moving to Cloudsdale!" "Briefs! Ugh! I wanted that to be a surprise!" said Belle. "Sorry dear." "Oh... it's alright, you had a rough day at work." "What's Cloudsdale?" asked Singer. "It's a town in the clouds inhabited by pegasai like us, sweetie. Daddy is relocating us there. It will be a better place for you to go to school, as well. They have pleanty of flying excercises up there that young pegasai, such as yourself can do." "Neato burrito!" said Singer, taking a seat at the table. "Where's Brawn at?" inquired Briefs. "In his room, pouting I'm afraid. He lashed out at Singer again today." "What he do this time?" "Why would you assume that it's Singer's fault for his lash out?" "Because... it... usually is." "Well not this time. All Singer did was say hi to him, and he told him to shut up." "I'll talk to him, later. Where's that brother of mine?" "Washing up for dinner. Brawn isn't the only one who won't be joining us for dinner. Grandma Joy decided to stay an extra day with her sister, so she won't be back until tomorrow." "Okay. What did you do today, son?" "Uncle Fender took me to the park! It was so much fun!" "You let him go out? What took you so long?" "Finding somepony who'd actually be willing to spend time with him for one." "You know I can't!" "I know. I'm sorry." "What if I took him to Brawn's Jr wrestling match this Saturday?" "That sounds like fun!" said Singer. "Well... that's a start anyway." Fender then walked in the kitchen with a towel over his hair. "Hey brother!" said Fender. "Hey Fender..." said Briefs annoyed at the sight of Fender's mane wrapped in a towel. "Oh, Belle you've really out done yourself!" He complimented after taking a spoonful of her soup out of his bowl and trying it. "Thank you Fender!" The rest of the meal was relatively quiet, nopony made a sound other than Singer's occasional robot noises while playing with his spoon. After it was over, Briefs went back into his office, Fender went to his room and Belle stayed in the kitchen, cleaning the dishes. Singer, being the thoughtful little guy he was, decided to help his mom finish the work. He figured it would be a good time to talk to her about what had happened eariler that day. "Mom..." said Singer. "I have a question for you." "Go on..." "When you see somepony picking on another pony, should you stand up to them and risk getting picked on too, or should you take the cautious route and stay out of it? I'm confused." "Why? Was somepony picking on you today? Was Fender not watching you carefully?" "No, not me... a little unicorn filly was getting picked on by a bigger unicorn filly! I stood there, not knowing what to do, so I just stayed out of it. I felt like I did the right thing at first, but now I'm not so sure." "Take some time to think on this for a second. How would you feel if you were in her shoes? Would you not want somepony to stand up for you if you were being bullied?" "Yes..." "There is your answer." Singer stood there for a second and realized his mistake. A small tear fell from his eye when he thought about how he would feel in that situation. "I am a bad pony." he said sadly. "You are not a bad, pony Singer. You just made a mistake. Did you learn from it?" "Yeah, I guess." "Do you want to ever do better next time?" "Of course." His mother then knealed down and hugged him. "See? That right there, shows me that you are not a bad pony. Everypony is entitled to make mistakes. It's not the mistakes that determine a good or a bad pony, it's how they react to the mistake and whether or not they care to try and fix it. You are anything but a bad pony, my son." "Thank you, mom." said Singer. "And if I ever see that filly again, I will apologize to her." "I think that sounds wonderful! Now you've helped me enough, Singer. You are free to go off and play now." "Thanks mom!" said Singer, running off to go to his toys in his room. When he got to his room, he paused and had an idea. He reached for his notebook, and crayons and began to write a journal entry, reading it aloud. "Dear Diary, Today I learned that it is never okay to sit there and let a bully be mean to somepony. Today I let a little unicorn filly get picked on by another, and I did a bad thing by doing nothing at all. Well after a talk with my super smart mom, I now realize that I cannot allow myself to stand there and do nothing ever again. From now on, no matter what. I will be a good friend. -Singer Case" "My first diary!" said Singer, smiling to himself. Brawn had been standing at his door while he had been writing and reciting what he had wrote. The small opening of the open door made it easy for him to look in. Although Singer could be annoying, he had his times when even Brawn had to respect his character. Although this did make him all the more jealous of him as well. Brawn huffed while backing away from his door and walked back into his room. "I made that promise to myself that day. I hated that feeling of guilt that came from not helping a pony in need. Though I never saw that filly again, I never forgot about my promise that I made to myself, that I'd aplogize to the filly if I ever did in fact meet her again. But now I had to prepare for the next chapter of my life, for moving day wasn't that far away."