//------------------------------//
// Chapter 5 
// Story: The Adventures of Cyborg Braeburn 
// by totallynotabrony 
//------------------------------//

	The five ponies walked on the road towards town.  They went at the pace of Granny Smith.  Braeburn didn’t mind.  It gave him more time to think.
Applejack talked with her younger sister.  Big Macintosh was stoic as usual.  Through an unspoken agreement, he and Braeburn walked on either side of Granny to offer her assistance should she need it.  Braeburn worried slightly about the old mare.  She had lived a long, full life, but when it was her time to go, there would be sadness.
Would it be different for him?  If Braeburn had died in a trample of buffalo hooves, what would his family have done?  It was difficult to imagine, and also rather unsettling.  Braeburn instead turned his thoughts to the party.
“Are we going to be late?” asked Apple Bloom.
“Nope,” said Applejack.  “Right on time.”
“Just put me in a corner out of sight,” said Braeburn.
“It’s your party,” reminded Applejack.
“Can I decline it?”
AJ laughed.  “Nopony gets out of a Pinkie Party.”
In the early evening, the street was still relatively busy.  Braeburn ducked his head and shrugged down deeper in the coat.  The party would be bad enough.  He didn’t need to make a scene in public.
Braeburn was apprehensive as he entered Sugarcube Corner.  Bad memories had been made there.  The party room was brightly colored, and special decorations made it even more festive.  Better than the basement, he decided.
Pinkie came bouncing over.  “Hi!  It was so good to meet you!  I throw everypony a party when they get here.  It’s too bad the party couldn’t have happened sooner, but Applejack told me you were having some medical issues and—”
Pinkie broke off, staring at Braeburn’s face.  He looked away, feeling self-concious.
She started talking again.  “Wow!  I’ve never thrown a party for a cyborg before!  Am I saying that right?  Valiant taught me that word and said that it meant a pony combined with a machine.  You sure look like a pony combined with a machine.  Are you?”  Somehow, Pinkie had gotten closer without Braeburn realizing it.  They were nearly eye-to-eye.
He took a step backwards.  “Uh, I guess.”
Pinkie’s eyes lit up.  “It’ll be an extra special party, then!”  She dashed away.
“Don’t mind her,” said Applejack.  “Pinkie’s weird.”
A couple of other ponies came in.  Braeburn didn’t know them and began to back away.  
Applejack grabbed him.  “You’re here, sugarcube.  The least you can do is stay a while.”
Braeburn sighed.  “All right.”  Here goes nothing.
Luckily, AJ didn’t force him to talk to anypony.  He saw a few familiar faces.  Valiant came in.  He nodded to Braeburn before going over to the refreshments table.
“And this is Braeburn, the guest of honor!” said Pinkie.  Braeburn jumped.  He hadn’t noticed her arrive.  She was escorting a grey pegasus whose eyes didn’t appear to be focused on anything in particular.
“Whoa,” said the pony, appearing to notice what was different about Braeburn.  “How did that happen to you?”
He shook his head.  “I just don’t know what went wrong.”
“Great!” said Pinkie, pulling the pony away.
The rest of the party went downhill from there.  Any other pony that Pinkie brought over seemed uncomfortable talking to a freak like Braeburn.  One or two even escaped her grip and ran.  When he decided to get something to eat, the refreshment table cleared out at his approach.  Nopony even wanted to go near him.
He spotted Applejack talking with another pony.  Rarity, was it?  Braeburn walked over meekly, hoping AJ’s presence would help.
“There he is,” said Applejack.  “Y’see what I was talkin’ about?”  She grabbed Braeburn’s face and shoved him forward as if she was presenting his cybernetics for inspection.
Rarity recoiled slightly.  “Um, yes.  The, ah, appearance of that could definitely be improved.”
“Rarity here is into fashion,” said Applejack.  “Maybe she can help you look a little more presentable.”
“I’ll try,” said the white unicorn, “but here is a limit to my talents, dear.”  She excused herself and moved away.  Braeburn saw Valiant furtively pouring something from a flask into a cup of punch.  Rarity walked over to him, saying something.
Braeburn flipped the switch behind his ear.  He felt like a snoop for listening in, but they were probably talking about him, right?
“Yeah, freakiest pony I’ve ever seen,” Valiant was saying.  “What’s your point?”
“I just think somepony should do something for him.  Poor dear.”
“Well, didn’t Pinkie throw a party?” said Valiant.  “Besides, I thought you were the generous one.  You do something for him.”
“Well, I…”
“Would you like some punch?” Valiant interrupted.  “I’ve got this glass here.”
Braeburn turned the power back down.  Even listening to conversations about him was depressing.
“Hey Rainbow,” called Applejack to a pegasus passing by.  “You remember my cousin Braeburn, right?”
“Oh yeah, I heard about what happened,” said Rainbow.  She didn’t shy away, but didn’t look at him directly, either.
“He’s going to be stayin’ with us until he recuperates,” said Applejack.  There was a moment of silence between the three of them, filled in by the background noise of the party.
Applejack elbowed Braeburn.  “Say somethin’.”
“Nice to see you again, Rainbow.”
“Uh, you too.”  The pony walked away.  Braeburn sighed.  
Applejack looked at him with concern.  “Hey now, everypony just needs time to get used to you.”
“How much time, AJ?”  Braeburn shook his head.  “This party was a bad idea.”
“Don’t say that.”
“Well, what would you say about it?” Braeburn demanded.  “I haven’t done a single thing wrong, but everypony’s scared of me.  Do you have any idea how I feel?”
Applejack looked stunned.  “Just give it a while longer.”
Braeburn sighed.  “I just don’t like beating my head on a wall and expecting to get somewhere.”
On the other side of the room, Pinkie was rolling out a brightly painted cannon.  “Let’s party!” she shouted.  Braeburn saw Valiant cover his ears.
The cannon went off with the loudest noise Braeburn had ever heard.  Dark smoke and confetti poured from the barrel.
“That never happened before!” said Pinkie.  Braeburn used the confusion and smoke to slip out the door.
The sun had just about set.  Braeburn knew it would only be a matter of time before somepony came looking for him.  Or would it?  His family might notice he had left, but the other ponies would probably be happy he was gone.
Braeburn sat down against the wall of the building.  He blinked a few tears out of his eye.  He told himself it was because of the smoke.

Applejack did eventually find him outside.  She hesitated, and then asked if Braeburn wanted to go back to the farm.
It was a blessing that sleep came quickly.  There were a few times that Braeburn felt himself drifting towards consciousness, but was able to ignore them.
When he woke up, he regretted not sleeping more lightly.  He was on the couch in the library.
“Damn,” said Valiant, leaning over him.  “You are easy to kidnap.”
The door opened just then, and five ponies came in.
“What are you doin’ with Braeburn?” demanded Applejack.
“Whoa, relax,” said Valiant.  “I’m staging an intervention.”
“You? said Rarity.
“What’s going on?” asked Twilight, coming down the stairs.  She glanced over at Braeburn.  “Also, how did he get here?”
Ignoring her, Valiant said, “I’ve noticed that Braeburn here needs friends.”
“You gave me a friend intervention?” said Braeburn.  “I’m fine, thanks.”  He tried to sit up, but nothing responded.
“Don’t bother,” said Valiant.  “I temporarily unhooked everything.  You didn’t think I would build something that I couldn’t also disable, did you?  Anyway, back to the task of making friends.”  He addressed the other ponies.  “Lord knows I’m wrong for the assignment, so that leaves you guys.”
The six mares stared at him.  He sighed.  “Look, isn’t friendship basically your job?  I can do a lot of things, but I know when I’m out of my experience zone.  So, make with the pep talk.”
“What are you talking about?” asked Rainbow.
“What I’ve learned by hanging out in Equestria for a while is that being a friend takes certain things.  Certain elements, if you will.”
“Oh,” said Twilight.  “I see where you’re going with this.”  She cleared her throat.  “You see Braeburn, you can’t have a friendship without a few things.”
Twilight looked at the other ponies.  “Rainbow, for example, represents the Element of Loyalty.  You need to have faith in your friends though thick and thin.  You can’t drop them when the going gets tough for either one of you.”
“My family took me in when I needed help,” said Braeburn.
Twilight nodded and turned to a different pony.  “Rarity represents Generosity.  If you can benefit your friend by sharing with them, then that’s what you should do.”
“Oh!  Mr. and Mrs. Cake donated all that food for the party,” said Pinkie.
Twilight went on. “Applejack is the Element of Honesty.  You can’t have a friendship if you can’t trust somepony, and you can’t trust them if they don’t tell you the truth.”
Braeburn glared at Valiant, who shrugged.
“Pinkie represents Laughter,” said Twilight.  “It’s important to share good times with your friends.”
“Remember when you blew apart that tree?” said Applejack.
Braeburn smiled.  “That was pretty funny.  You should have seen the look on Big Macintosh’s face.”
Next, Twilight said, “Fluttershy exemplifies Kindness.  You have to go out of your way to help your friends and make their lives better.”
“Like if I were to push this button marked ‘pain’,” said Valiant, “Fluttershy would try to ease your anguish.”  His hoof hovered near the side of Braeburn’s head.
A few tense seconds passed.  Valiant laughed.  “Kidding.  There’s no such button.”
Twilight said, “And I’m the Element of—”
Valiant cut her off.  “He’s half robot.  Now if you were the Element of Science, that might be applicable.  Anyway, the point is, Braeburn, there are ponies out there who are willing to do these things for you.  They might be few and far between, but you’re lucky to have them.
“Lucky?” shouted Braeburn.  “I’m a freak!”
“You could be dead you ungrateful shit,” said Valiant.  “And, tell me the truth, would you rather go back to being in a wheelchair?”
“No, I suppose not.”  Braeburn glared at Valiant.  “I’m still not forgiving you for doing this to me, though.”
Valiant laughed.  “Like I care.”  He leaned forward to reattach the connections to the artificial legs.  Braeburn felt his limbs begin to respond again.  
Valiant never knew what hit him.

“I think I know what I need to do,” said Braeburn.  He and Applejack were on their way back to the farm.
“What’s that, cousin?”
“I need to learn to live with who I am.  I know Rarity was working on some kind of cover to dress up the metal parts, but I’ll still never be quite the same again.”  He sighed.  “I need to accept the fact that I can’t change that, so there’s no point in worrying about it any more.”
“Well, as long as you’re all right with how things turned out,” said Applejack.
“I’m not.  It’s no fault of mine, though, and all I can do is learn to adapt.  Maybe someday I will finally be okay with what happened.  I guess all I can do is just try to be a better pony and keep improving, one step at a time.”
Applejack nodded.  “So will you be stayin’ around the farm for a while?”
“I guess.”
“Well, applebuckin’ season is startin’ to pick up.  Just promise to be more careful with the trees.”
Braeburn smiled.  “One step at a time.”