//------------------------------// // Just One Date? // Story: Winding Roads // by Storm butt //------------------------------// Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. It belongs to The Hub, Hasbro, Studio B, and Lauren Faust. I do not own any of these characters in any way or how, nor do I claim ownership to the pony franchise. These characters are simply my toys. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Can't you just leave me alone?” ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Winding Roads Chapter 2: Just One Date? The small and yellow colt kept his hooves cupped over his ears, his own eyes filling to the brim in tears. He kept sniffling lightly, his nose running. He bit his lower lip harder and pressed his hooves tighter as the sounds of yelling found themselves into his eardrums, taunting and tormenting him. His body was still trembling; he couldn't help it at this point. He squeezed his eyes tight, trying to block out all vision and sound so he could vanish into nonexistence, and stop causing everypony harm... “I’m sorry…” He whimpered out gently “I’m sorry… I’ll be good…” A smash caused him to jump. It sounded as if a hoof had slammed into a wall in anger. "How the hell could this happen to Braeburn?" The small colt named Braeburn opened his teary eyes; the wall separating him from the voice of anger was thin. He clamped his hooves tighter, but to no prevails. If anything it only gave him a headache. His ears were pressed against his scalp in sorrow. He tried to shift his own body, but simply whimpered in pain. He settled on lying down and curling up under the thick blanket. If anything, he at least felt safe. The blanket was burning hot as his cheeks flushed from the crying. However he was far too afraid to come out of the safety of it, it gave him what little security it could offer, which was more than enough for the young colt at the moment. He wished somepony would tell him why the ponies were yelling. "Honey... are you sure he wasn't joking? Kids do that often these days, maybe he... I know you don't like his mane, but..." The second voice trailed off. While it sounded much kinder, it was also filled with a tone that struck the tiny colt with guilt right through his chest. He covered his mouth to keep in his sobs that were wracking around his body, attempting to find an escape through his mouth that he had to forcibly block off to keep in the horrible chocking sounds. "Damn kid pretty much insisted on it... I can't believe he wasn't disgusted by the thought, we need to whip his hind in proper shape before he gets any weird ideas in his mind." The rough voice growled. Braeburn bit his lip harder, causing blood to draw to skin. What had he done wrong? A long silence filled the air. Braeburn could hardly breathe he was attempting so hard not to start bawling out a stream of tears. He let out a half-muffled sob into his upper legs as his chest shook and rumbled with deep sobs that began to surface. The movement of his sobbing caused his back to begin to act up again. It was dotted in bruises in all shapes and sizes, with a long gash on the earth pony's cheek that began to bleed into his hooves. "Our son is acting like a bucking coltcuddler for Celestia's sake..." He felt like a bad pony. A really really bad pony. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Braeburn felt his own eyes snap open. His body was covered in sweat once more as he found himself breathing in and out heavily, his head suddenly had a massive migraine. He whimpered gently before closing his eyes and rubbing his mane with a hoof to clear his thoughts. He glanced up with a pair of blurry, emerald eyes out the window. It was still nighttime... the sun wasn't even on the verge of the horizon by the looks of it, the wispy rays of orange not yet shimmering. It took him several minutes to settle down and realize he was back in the real world, not his dream. After that he blinked a pair of blurry eyes and bit his lip to keep it from the quivering that caused him to feel weak. Braeburn began rubbing his hoof over his forehead to wipe the sweat from his brow. It was the same dream that had been coming to him for three months. Something from his childhood? Something he perhaps made up? He had major doubts about the ladder of the two considering how vibrant and realistic it seemed. He also wasn't sure he wanted to fully remember all of the details, he may have simply wanted it to remain a repressed memory. The yellow colt sniffled gently. He couldn't help it, the dream just stung him deep in his heart at times. He sighed as one of his habits entailed as he rubbed a tired eye, wanting to drift back into sleep, his aching hooves still hurting from the day's work. He laid his head back down, knowing full well he wouldn't be able to go back to sleep. He rubbed a few tufts of fur covering his chest in circles, as his mind drifted to the strange pegasus for no reason other than him being willing enough to get the dream out of mind. He suddenly felt lonely, in this large, cold bed all alone. The thought of the breath going down his ear and trailing to the back of the earth pony's neck as it did earlier caused Braeburn to seize up in slight excitement. He instantly felt guilt, and proceeded to squeeze his head inside of his pillow, hooves clamping over ears through it, an attempt to block out all of the sounds in his mind. He hated himself more than anypony should these days, perhaps more than any of the ponies giving him nasty looks and calling him names. He grumbled to himself under his breath out words that he himself couldn't even comprehend. He looked into the sky once more, Princess Luna's moon giving off a light that basked the area around them. He blinked several times as Soarin found a way to creep into his thoughts. It was so strange... to have somepony not spit on him for simply existing for once after the past few months... Stupid Soarin whatshisname... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ His hoof slammed into the mid-section of the large apple tree. The weight on his back suddenly increased as he all but collapsed before managing to catch his own weight as he stood up tall, breathing heavily as the final few apples fell into place. He sighed, looking high into the sky. It had to be around two or three... it was the time of day when he felt like dying because he was so overheated from the sun's harsh rays whilst carrying boatloads of apples on his back. He blinked several times and rubbed his eyes as he yawned. Braeburn was right, he didn't get back to sleep last night. He quietly adjusted his cowpony hat to block his eyes from the harsh rays of sunlight casting down on him through the thinning branches of leaves. It was almost winter time in Appleloosa, and if he wasn't able to harvest enough along with the other workers, the whole town would starve. At least the whole Buffalo incident was over and done with, they only came here once a year, and that was during summertime when the apples were ripe. His eyes began to feel sore. He wanted a rest, or a cat nap, or anything to make the pupils stop hurting. Braeburn looked up at the green leaves slowly tinting orange. He wasn't looking forward to the winter wrap up in Appleloosa, what with no pegasi or unicorns to help, Cloudsdale simply sent out teams of pegasi to give snow clouds to all the towns and it was pretty much their own job to clean it up. He licked his dry lips. He still had a few more hours left until he had bucked enough apples to satisfy Sheriff Silverstar. While being the most loyal employee, he had to keep his reputation up, or else he feared the Sheriff would have no reason to keep on hiring him. The yellow earth pony sighed as he shook his head, his own mane sticking to his neck once more. He sometimes hated the heat in this town. He opened his emerald eyes and used his upper leg to wipe the sweat from his brow once more. He briefly thought about taking off his vest, although he feared he might lose it in such a large place... "Hey dude!" The sudden voice forced each and every hair on the yellow pony's coat to stand on end as his eyes shot open and he gasped in surprise, falling over and therefore causing all of the apples in the barrels on his sides to fall over onto his body, burying his upper half as his legs twitched slightly from shock. "You alright?" The voice could only belong to one pony. "Soarin..." Braeburn grumbled, sitting up, all of the now bruised apples falling off of him as he rubbed his head which was now pounding with a headache. He whimpered gently, showing a brief moment of weakness in the eyes of the pegasus in front of him. He glanced up at Soarin, who at the current moment was busy stuffing his face with an apple with a strange look of pure delight in his eyes. "What are ya doing her-" "Oh dude, these apples are bucking delicious!" Soarin said, in a voice only describable as a fanboy squeal as he grabbed another and shoved it in his mouth, as if inhaling it. Braeburn shrunk away slightly as bits of food splashed against his face. So he was rude... and a slob. How in the hay did he even manage to sneak up on the earth pony anyhow? Braeburn shook off his spooks about the unnoticeable pegasus and glared straight into his green eyes that reflected his own like a mirror. "What are ya doin' here? No, wait, how did ya even find me?" Braeburn asked, dumbfounded and baffled by the pegasus. Soarin finished his apple in one bit, simply spitting out the core onto the ground, taking his swell time to turn back toward the earth pony as he licked the apple juice off of his light blue lips. "Dunno, just wanted some apples and I found you here, funny how that works, huh dude?" "In the name of cinnamon swirls, stop calling me a dude..." Braeburn grumbled, eyes darting away from the pegasus as his cheeks tinted a rosy red. "Ok then... funny how that works, huh man?" Now Soarin was just trying to piss off the earth pony. "Don't call me that there either!" Braeburn snapped out, annoyance behind his green eyes which were ready to burst into flames of anger if he didn't calm down soon. Why the buck was he blushing for this idiot? Better yet, why was he blushing for a colt at all? "You never told me your name, what else am I supposed to call you?" Soarin asked, a little teasing in his voice as Braeburn's own blush increased and he visibly winced at it. He felt like an idiot now... "Braeburn..." He mumbled "It's just Braeburn Apple a'right? Now what are ya doing here?" He couldn't look the older in the eyes, afraid he would tint even further. He hated himself so damn much at the moment. "Alrighty then, Braeburn," Soarin said, smiling in a goofy way at the yellow earth pony "So mister 'I'm not a coltcuddler', How about that date you promised me?" He asked, his eyes glimmering as he flapped his wings and floated over to the other, hovering about five inches from his face and looking dead into the darting eyes. "I didn't promise ya nothin'!" Braeburn protested, finding himself stepping back before backing straight into the tree he had just finished bucking. He turned his head away from the floating pegasus. "'Sides, I gotta work on these here apples or else all of the people'll starve!" "So you don't want them to starve, even though they all hate you?" Soarin asked, cocking up a brow and blinking his emerald eyes. "Course not!" Braeburn said, stomping a hoof on the ground as he turned to face the other "I'm not letting my own town starve ta death, regardless of what they think of me!" Soarin was silent for several moments before smiling once more happily "You're a good colt, Braeburn," He said "Don't know if I would be able to do what you do if my entire town hated me, but you stick through it, I like you even more!" This caused Braeburn to find himself blushing even more, his mouth tried to say something but it simply went dry and he grew deeper into the pit of embarrassment he had dug himself into. "Aww, ain't that cute?" Soarin asked, reaching out a hoof and patting the cheeks of the younger before floating away several feet as he inspected his surroundings, leaving the yellow pony dumbfounded. He… strangely liked the teasing that time… Cute? Were colts supposed to be cute at his age? Handsome maybe, but cute? He blushed so vibrantly that his eyes watered in embarrassment, he began to hate himself more and more by the second. He was losing to this pegasus. He hated losing to this idiotic, nut ball, coltcuddler! "Why don't ya jus' go home?" Braeburn mumbled "Why do ya keep hanging 'round me like this?" He sounded desperate at this point, he was slipping further and further down as his body began to break down. "No can do, sorry." Soarin mumbled as he picked a random apple on the tree and began to eat it up "Oh Luna, these things are great! Anyway," He said though a full mouth "Me and my squad can't leave for another two weeks, we got a few shows around these parts, so I guess you're stuck with me till then!" Squad? Show? Did he preform or something? His gaze drifted down from the face of the pegasus back to the goggles hanging around his neck. He seriously thought he knew this colt from somewhere. "T-Then why me, why not some other coltcuddler, I'm sure there's a real one somewhere! I mean, good gravy, I'm not a coltcuddler for Celestia's sake!" He sounded like he was trying to convince himself, not stating a fact. "Because you look like you're suffering..." Was all Soarin said, his tone serious as he reached a hoof down into the tree, a branch casting a shadow on his face so Braeburn couldn’t read his emotion. It was strange to hear such a serious tone in the goofy pegasus for once, but it was there, and it made Braeburn's fur stick up once more. It wasn't in fear this time. "I don't like it when colts go through their whole life in denial and then decide they made the wrong choice before it was too late, and you seem like a pretty nice guy and all, my type... And it could also be due to I don't like to see cutie's like you go through pain like this" He trailed off, glancing down at the earth pony's red face. He didn't tease him this time, just looked at him thoughtfully with a small smirk on his face. "I...I... But I’m not in denial… I mean, no, wait, I just…" Braeburn's mind tossed and turned, but couldn't find a suitable comeback for the light blue pegasus. He closed his eyes and gently begged himself to not let out a whimper of weakness. "Sooooo, you gotta buck all these apples, huh?" Soarin asked, his tone back to being light, as if he sensed the yellow pony's distress and decided to change the subject. Braeburn glanced up, daring to meet the emerald eyes as he slowly nodded, reaching up a hoof to slowly adjust his hat to hide his glistening eyes. Soarin's words were hurting him, and the worst part was he couldn't come up with any other reason than the one he refused to admit. They were true. "'Tis one of the reasons I can't just get up 'n go with you... not that I would anyway..." He added the last part little more than a whisper, in the back of his mind hoping the older didn't hear it, or simply chose to ignore it. "I won't be done 'till at least another three hours if I move my hind..." "Well that's no good for me, I got myself a show tonight!" Soarin said, tapping his chin with a hoof as if pondering a moment. "I know!" He said "Why don't you come with me tonight and watch me and I'll call us even!" "Even?" Braeburn asked, cocking up a brow. "Y'know... for giving you my drink..." Soarin said, as if the answer was obvious, he flew down to the other and hovered on his back, his upside down face three inches from his. "Half a beer is not worth the same amoun' as a date!" Braeburn grumbled, slamming a hoof into his face in, what could only be described ask, an epic facehoof. The pegasus chose not to hear him as he soared down and grabbed a barrel, holding it up "So, how many of these do you need filled up by the end of the day before you can leave?" "Twenty..." "And how many have you filled up?" The light blue pegasus inquired. Braeburn didn't answer, he simply blushed and tried his best to avoid eye contact with the other for fear of blushing. He could hear playful chuckling "Guess I'll just have to fill up twenty then!" He said. "Wait... wha?" Braeburn asked before Soarin flew into an apple tree with the barrel, the tree shook for a few moments and the pegasus then flew to another tree and repeated the process, then another, then another. After a good thirty seconds he returned with a full barrel, not a single sweat broken. Braeburn felt him mouth drop open to which the pegasus closed it manually with his hoof. His blush returned as the hoof playfully teased its way up and off his neck, to which the earth pony gulped and trembled with chill, despite the burning hot sun beating down on him. It would have taken him thirty minutes to fill up that barrel, it wasn't like he was Applejack who had bucked all her life, and he had only started this past year! This pegasus who never bucked an apple in his life just got in thirty seconds! "So... nineteen more? Where do I get more barrels, we gotta catch the train!" Soarin said. "Wait... train?" The earth pony all but squeaked out "In the name of Betsy, where are ya taking me?" "The show you featherbrain!" Soarin said "You promised me a date, and I can't carry you there, I'll be too exhausted to preform!" He rolled his eyes as if the earth pony was stupid. "I never agreed on a date, and I never said I wa-" "Whatever, I'll find them myself, alright, and then we can leave." Soarin said. "O-Okay... no, wait just a horseshoe minut'!" He couldn't finish before Soarin began shooting out his wings out and soaring in the sky faster than Braeburn saw even Applejack's filly friend move. He blinked and shook his head, trying to rid himself of the complete and utter stupidity of the conversation they just went through. Braeburn blushed again, and this time, he couldn't help it that his eyes glimmered with tears from his own frustration. He didn't know why this pegasus pissed him off yet made him blush so much, it made him feel like he was doing something wrong... something immoral. The dream came back to his mind once more, and his eyes watered. He was pretty sure he just agreed to have a date with another colt. Buck.