Colin was home, back at the cottage. He wasn't crying anymore and felt more calm, well at least wasn't crying anymore. When every animal saw the boy, they never felt more happy than ever to see that he was okay. Even Angel was so relieved to see him back. Colin gave a sheepish smile and waved at them slowly. "H- hello." was all he said to them in response.
"Colin, are you okay?" said Fluttershy.
"I'm fine." Colin replied to her. He got off from her and headed upstairs when he was stopped by her sweet, and gentle voice.
"Wait! Can I give you anything, Colin?" Fluttershy offered
"No thanks." he said sadly. "I... I just need some time alone." Them the child walked up stairs, and went to his bed. Fluttershy and the other animals looked at him with concern, and hoped that he will okay.
Fluttershy wanted to go up there, but she decided to just leave him alone right now and ,ay e check on him in an hour or two. "Don't worry, my friends. I'll see if he's okay a little later. He just needs to be alone." She said to her all her animals.
They all worried about him, but they decided that being alone can be an answer for feeling a tad bit better if somepony is going through a hard time. They all went back to their normal lives, for now that is.
***
It was already two and a half hours, and Colin did not get off that bed ever since he laid in it when he came back. He felt really depressed and guilt-stricken for running away, and believing Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon's harsh lies from when he was at school. Will Fluttershy and the others punish him for that action?
Not only that, but he could not get over the fact that he just saw ghosts of his parents. He wondered if that encounter was all real, or if he was hallucinating. He did feel them touch him, even though they were ghosts.
He gave a sad sigh as he hid under the soft covers of his own bed. He kept tossing and turning in his own anguish whenever he felt like tossing and turning. Colin never turned his frowns expression ever since too. He gave another sigh. It was all quiet on his room, and it was silent since.
"Colin." Said a voice. It was Fluttershy, who decided to come in. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." Colin replied, not moving an inch from his spot.
Fluttershy moved up the bed, and she gently took the covers off of him. "Sweetie, please. Look at me." She said sweetly.
Colin reluctantly decided to look at her, just for her sake. "Mommy." He said
"Yes?"
"I... I'm sorry if I ran away. I didn't mean for all of this to happen to you." He felt like sobbing again.
Fluttershy hugged him and soothed him. "Shhh, it's okay. I'm here." She whispered. "You don't have to be sorry about anything." She let him go of her hug after she had enough love and care. "Come with me."
"Ummm, where?" Colin asked
"Just come downstairs with me." Fluttershy answered. Everypony wants to see you."
"I... I don't know." Said Colin. "I don't want to see them like THIS." He showed Fluttershy the dry tears on his face.
"There's no need to be ashamed, sweetie. It will be fine."
Colin thought of it whether he should go with Fluttershy or be dragged by her. Not that she actually would, but maybe playfully give him a piggy back rapids by doing it.
"Please?" Fluttershy begged
"Okay." Colin finally answered. He got out of bed, and he followed Fluttershy downstairs, but he was slow about it, because hope was very nervous about this. They both went downstairs, and their they were, Twilight, Rainbow, Pinkie, Applejack, Spike, and Rarity. It was not must them, their were also the girls, Pip, Rumble, Tnderlane, Big Mac, Granny Smith, Cloudchaser and Flitter,Discord, Paw Print, and others. They all looked at Colin, and were really happy to see him, and also concerned for him. There were also two mares that he didn't mean, well no yet anyway. The mares were a mint green unicorn with a harp for her cutie mark and a pale yellow earth pony with a red and blue mane and tail, both curly. Her cutie mark were three pieces of hard wrapped candy.
"Okay, here he is." Said Fluttershy to the group.
Everypony walked up to him, to talk to him one at a time.
"Colin, are you alright?" Said Twilight.
"I... I guess." Was all Colin answered to her.
"Are you sure?" Said Discord. "You look all down in the dumps."
"How are you feeling, kid?" Said Rainbow playfully, trying to cheer him up a little more
"I... I feel..... Guilty."
"About what, Sugarcube?" Asked Applejack
"For... Runnin away."
"Oh, sweetie. Don't be sorry." Said Rarity. "It wasn't your fault." The white unicorn gently lifted his chin with her hoof to make eye contact with him
"Yes, Colin. You are not to blame, we understood how you felt." Paw Print added.
Now, Colin, the girls, Pip, and Rumble told us that you ran away because Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon hurt your feelings. Is that true?" Asked Fluttershy.
"Yes." Colin admitted with shame. "She said that you all really don't love me because I am not a pony and I can't be in the family if I'm not a pony." Everypony gasped at what they just heard from him. "So, please. Please don't punish me. I am begging you."
"Oh sweetie, we're not going to punish you." Said Fluttershy
"What moron told you that?" Said Spike.
"I don't know. I... I was just thinking."
"We promise you we will not punish you." Said Rarity.
"Yeah, it wasn't your fault. If anypony is going to be punished around here, it's those two brats." Said Applejack.
It was no the children's turn to talk to him.
"Everything okay, buddy?" Said Scootaloo with concern.
Colin nodded.
"Good. I'm glad to hear that." Said Sweetie Belle.
"So am I." Said Applebloom. "Listen, you should never listen to some lowdown varmint like those two fillies, you just have to ignore them."
"Yeah, Colin. You should have talked to Miss Cheerilee about it." Scootaloo added, wrapping her arm around his shoulder.
"I know."
"We're not mad at you for that. We promise." Said Sweetie Belle.
Colin smiled at her.
"Hey, Colin. Speaking of Cheerilee, she was so worried about you." Said Pipsqueak, stepping in to cheer him up now.
"Did you tell her that I came back? Is she mad at me?" Colin asked
"Oh no. She would never." Pip replied. "She was just worried about you.
"Is she going to give me detention?" Colin asked worriedly
"Of course not, Colin." Rumble replied. "She really likes you, and knows you wouldn't do something bad."
Colin smiled.
"Excuse me, sorry to interrupt, but can I step in?" Said Thunderlane
"Yeah, go ahead, big brother." Rumble replied
The black pegasus walked up to Colon with a smile. "I'm Thunderlane, Rumble's older brother. I'm sorry if I was rude, but I thought I would like to meet you in person. When Rumble came back from school the other day, he told me all about you, and what you were like."
"Really? well, what did he say mister a Thunderlane?"
"Ah, you don't have to be so formal kid but thank you. You can just call me Thunderlane. Anyway, what i am trying to say is that you are an awesome kid, Colin. Dn't let anypony tell you otherwise." He gave him a gentle rubbing on his head, making him laugh a little.
Now the green unicorn and yellow earth mare stepped up to comfort him.
"Hello." Said the yellow one. "I'm Bon Bon."
"And I am Lyra." The green unicorn added. "We heard about what was going on with you and... we are so sorry to hear that." Her tone changes fromantic happy to sympathetic. "We thought we would like to meet you in person."
"Well, nice to meet you, Lyra and Bon Bon." Colin said to both of them. The two best friends smiled warmly at his politeness.
"It's nice to meet you too, Colin." Said Bon Bon
"How do you know my name?" The boy asked curiously
"Twilight and the others told us all about you, and you are one interesting kid." Said Lyra, winking at him. "If you would like to hang out with us, you are more than welcome to."
"And we can do something fun and exciting together." Bon Bon added.
"Okay. I will" Colin said with a smile.
"Oh, and... don't think we won't like you because we like you alot already." Lyra said playfully. "We will ways love you no matter what." Then she winked at him playfully.
Colin blushed and smiled at her remark.
"Well, we should probably let the others talk to you now." Said Bon Bon. giving somepony else a chance to console with him
Now, it was Cloudchaser and Flitters turn.
"Thank you, Thunderlane." Said Cloudchaser. She turned her attention to Colin, and said to him "we are so glad you're okay, kid. We were so worried about you."
"Yeah, thank goodness you are safe." Flitter added
"Thanks, Cloudchaser, thanks Flitter"Colin replied.
"You're welcome, Colin, but please, don't ever do that again." Cloudchaser gently said to him.
"Okay. I won't."
"Aw, come here, Colin." Said Flitter with a smile, opening her arms ready to hug him, as was Cloudchaser. The boy smiled slightly again and he hugged the two pegasus twins. Now he was feeling more better than before thanks to all the support of his new family.
"We Weill always be here for you." Cloudchaser said while hugging
"Always." Flitter added.
"Really?"
"Of course we will darling." Said Rarity.
"We'll never abandon you. We promise." Said Applejack.
"You still love me, even though I am not a pony?" Said Colin.
"Of course we do sweetie. Always."
"So do we." Said yet another familiar. They all turned at it was Princess Celestia, Luna, Cadence, and Shining Armor at the front door.
"Twilight told us everything about what happened, and I thought we would check on you." Said Luna.
"We were really worried about you." Said Celestia.
"I'm... I'm sorry if I ran away, princess Celestia." Colin said to her.
"No need to apologize, child." Celestia said to him sweetly.
"Yes, you are not to blame." Cadence added
"Don't worry about it." Said Shining Armor. "Listen, you should have just talked to one of us to work this out."
"Yeah, Colin. You don't have to be afraid to talk to one of us for help. We can do all we can to help." Twilight added
Coil didn't say anything back again until finally, he said to all of them. "Thanks guys."
The others made words that were associated with the words thank you or no problem.
"Oh! Colin, I almost forgot to give you a cake to cheer you up." Said Pinkie with a thought. She went into a small bag, and pulled out a small cake that was chocolate and had strawberry filling on it. It almost looked like a cupcake, except it was far bigger than a cupcake.
"You made this for me?" Said Colin, really touched by his present from her.
"Of course, silly willy." Pinkie replied cheerfully. "Anything for my cute little nephew."
"Thank you." Colin said. "I'm going to save this for later. He walked up to the table and placed the cake on it.
"Do you feel better?" Fluttershy asked
"Yeah... You know what, I do." Colin said
"That's good."
"So, would you like anything from us?" Twilight offered.
"No thanks. Well.... Maybe I can do something fun with one of you guys." Colin said.
Everypony smiled at his answer
"Really? That's great." Said Rainbow. "Who would you like to hang out with? And whichever one you choose is okay with me, because we can do it another day."
"Me too." Rarity added
"Me three." Pinkie added.
Colin laughed. "I'll think about it." He replied.
"Well, we might as well be leaving." Said Celestia. "I am so glad you are feeling better, Colin." She placed a hoof gently on his shoulder
"Thank you, Celestia." Said Colin.
The princess' and Shining smiled at him, and then they all disappeared out of nowhere with their magic from their horns all at once.
"Well, we might be going too." Said Rarity. Everypony, minus, Fluttershy, made words of agreement, and were about to leave. However they were all stopped by Colin.
"Wait, I just wanted to say, I love you guys." Colin said to them
"We love you too, Colin." Everypony said back to him. Everypony all left, and then it was just Fluttershy, him, and the critters.
"Would you like me to make you some lunch, sweetie?" Fluttershy offered.
"Yeah. Can I have the usual lunch?" Colin asked
"Of course." Fluttershy went to the kitchen while a Colin went to interact with some of the animals in the cottage.