Finding Home

by Auto-Buscus

Home Again

Morning rose with the sun in Ponyville, and all seemed to be well with the town. Unfortunately for Singer, things weren't so serene. He'd been worrying about what he'd say, what he'd do... He of course, was thinking about the fact that today was the day he'd told himself he was finally going to go back to Cloudsdale and try to mend fences with his family and friends, one pony in particular he was especially nervous about seeing. As he'd gotten around that morning, he'd been so nervous about it that he couldn't even cook his own breakfast. So with no other choice, he'd take a small detour into town and grab something to eat before making the "grueling" fifteen minute flight to Cloudsdale from Ponyville. A nice stack of chocolate chip pancakes should do the the trick, he thought as he received his plate and began to eat.

Sadly, Singer had only just learned how close Ponyville was to Cloudsdale just a few days prior due to being informed by Rainbow Dash. Needless to say, he'd kinda wished he'd known this earlier. Growing up, even while living in Cloudsdale, Singer had always heard about Ponyville and how nice it was, but he barely knew anything further than that. Didn't even know how close he was to it, and vice versa.

While he slowly ate his meal, he went deep in thought of what he'd say to everypony when he'd get there, he was spooked by the sudden appearance of Rainbow Dash. She'd tried to get his attention twice before he'd realized she was there. And the realization of her presence slightly surprised him.

"Rainbow Dash... Hi..." said Singer, trying not to look too scared out of not wanting to be called a wimp. "What brings you around here?"

"Nothin much." she said, exasperatingly . "Just trying to make the most out of this boring Monday. I really wish that the Weather bosses would let us do a little storm this afternoon or something. When you're supposed to be working, and you have no orders whatsoever, things tend to be a little boring!"

"When I'm bored, I go to the library and read books." said Singer. "Plus it helps me take my mind off a few... er... things."

"Tried that already. Really the only thing I'm interested in reading right now is the latest Daring Do installment. But that won't come out for another week and a half!"

"There's another one?!" inquired Singer. "Darn, I'm still trying to catch up. I'm still on 'Daring Do and The Impossible Mineshaft'."

"That one's meh..." said Rainbow Dash. "The story in that one isn't all that great. It actually turns out that-" she was cut off by Singer protesting the spoiler.

"Aw come on, Dashie! Don't spoil it for me! I really want to read it myself. Even if the ending isn't all that great for some reason."

"I wasn't really talking about the ending as much as I was talking about-"

"La la la la la la la" said Singer placing his hooves over his ears. "I can't hear you! Blah blah blah!"

"Take a chill pill, there Sing. I was only kidding around with you." she smirked. "The Impossible Mineshaft is probably one of the awesomest installments ever! You're really going to like that one. Has a great villain."

"DAH!" shouted Singer putting his hooves over his ears.

Dash cocked her head. "Come on, you big baby. I was only saying it has a great villain, no spoilers, I promise! Besides, I've already had this same scenario happen with Dusk and Twilight when I zipped ahead of them in the series and couldn't contain my excitement!"

"Are you insane?" Singer asked nervously. "Trying to out do librarians in any series is asking for a trip to the emergency room! They don't like being upstaged!"

"Clearly you need to spend more time with our resident librarians then. Egotistical isn't exactly part of their personalities." she chukled.

"I suppose you're right now that I think back on that. Heh heh..." chuckled Singer.

"So what's got you all tense, Sing?" inquired Rainbow Dash.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." said Singer trying to hide his nervousness.

"You lived in Las Pegasus, Singer. Surely you'd know how to tell a poker face when you see one. Or even learn how to do a half way decent one..." deadpanned Rainbow before a playful smirk replaced it.

"Fine, you got me!" admitted Singer. "You see, I'm going back to Cloudsdale for a day or maybe more. It's high time that I try to get closure with some ponies back home. Namely, my parents... well my dad more specifically."

"That's good news, or otherwise bad news." said Dash. "Depends on how it all turns out, I guess."

"Which is exactly why I'm nervous." said Singer. "I'm not sure how it's going to go. I'm kind of having second thoughts. I don't want to make things worse."

"Hey, don't sweat it." said Rainbow. "It's your family, right? If you truly care about one another, why should you be worried about seeing them again?"

Rainbow could make out another hint of nervousness in Singer's features. "Well, the last time I saw each of them, things didn't exactly end well."

"Sounds like bad communication to me. That's kind of what families do. Stop being a wuss and mare up already!" said Rainbow Dash. "You can't keep hiding from your problems forever, you know. Did you back down when Thunder Clap showed up to beat you senseless the other day?"

Singer remembered how he'd had to act upon that day that Thunder Clap had found him in Ponyville, and threatened him and even his friends. Somehow though, facing an old bully from his vulnerable childhood past wasn't as scary as it seemed to be to face down his family. Namely, his dad. Then there was Violet. He was still anxious with anticipation to see if she'd even opened the letter he sent or if she'd ignored it like she seemingly ignored the rest of them.

Singer knew she had a point, and suddenly realized how silly he was acting. "No..." he admitted bitterly. "Well, technically..."

"Shut up with the technicalities!" she said, raising her voice, then having a halfway apologetic look on her face as some of the ponies in the area diverted their attention in their direction. "Sorry about that."

Singer waved it off. "You're right, Dash. I think this has gone on long enough. For too long I've been hiding from my past, and using the present and the future to try and make up for it, when I should've been making an effort to try and fix it from the get go. I realize now that it's not going to cut it anymore. It's time for me to go and fix things." He said in an upbeat fashion as he took the last bite of his stack of pancakes and finished by washing it down with a glass of milk.

He then rose from his seat at the table and prepared to fly off. "Thanks for the chat and pep talk, Dash. I'll see ya later."

She smiled and placed a pair of sunglasses on her face. "It's no thing..." she said. "I better be zipping off, too. Later, dude!" she took off before Singer even tried to take off. As a result, he felt a bit of a small sonic boom as she took off in the air.

Singer coughed out the dust that had flown into his mouth during Rainbow's take off and commenced take off as well. This was it, he thought to himself. Destination: Cloudsdale.

...

It was just as beautiful as he remembered it, and then some. The white fluffy surface evaporated slightly under his hooves as he trudged on through the town. Singer had missed Cloudsdale. Like most pegasai who lived there, being located in the sky helped add to the beauty and luster and also aided in the experience of being up so high. This town was the jazz, he thought to himself. Forget all that had happened for just a second, and just enjoy being up and breathing that fresh moist air! It was so good to be back.

As he got further into town, he saw some recognizable faces and some new faces as well. Singer would often linger on any new building that he saw and study it momentarily before moving on.

He stopped by his old high school and stood in front of the building. Looking upon it, reminiscing on the days of old when he used to walk the halls with Violet, and face the bullies who would taunt him almost every day. Despite that, he couldn't hate the place. True, many of his worst times happened there. But many good times happened there as well. It had been he and Violet's socializing grounds most of the time, and that was the place that the two had really gotten as close as they had ever been. Throughout all of his years of school, she'd been by his side. Singer smiled with a small tear falling from his eye, as he bore the place no ill feelings towards the place. The place that had been the worst to him, ironically was the place he went to escape what he thought at the time was the horrors of Cloudsdale. The place where his career and first relationship fell apart, Las Pegasus.

He took one more look at the school before moving on his way. He did have business to attend to, after all. As he did, he saw the diner that he'd once worked at. That place didn't bring him many good memories, as the time he'd gotten that job was during the latter years of school when he and Violet were beginning to get busy with their own aspirations, and had less time to hang out than they previously had when they were foals. He didn't linger but a few seconds upon that place, as he pressed on.

But on his way, he did come across a familiar, friendly sight. Violet's house. Though not his destination at this time, was for sure next on the agenda. He had to see her. He wanted to go now, but there was something he needed to take care of first. He'd waited a little over a year, another few hours to a day wouldn't kill him. He wasn't sure how long it would take, so he didn't get too excited to get to talk to her today. From there, he decided to fly as the anxiety from the wait had become a bit overbearing. It wasn't but a minute of flying until he saw it. Home.

The house hadn't changed much. Maybe a few new decorations on the house he'd never seen before, but nothing really new. Singer breathed a deep breath as he prepared himself. As he reached up to knock on the door, many thoughts flowed through his mind. Who would be the one to answer the door? He contemplated a few scenarios of what would happen if different ponies answered the door. What would he do if it was his dad? He really wasn't sure, he just knew that it would be awkward. What would he say to his mom? Well with her, he probably wouldn't have to say much because she'd probably try to suffocate him with a big hug immediately when she saw him. What if this wasn't even their house anymore? Singer screwed his eyes and shook his head, trying to rid himself of these thoughts.

He inhaled and exhaled once more. Here it goes... He knocked on the door, and took a couple of steps back as he awaited a response. Nothing. He didn't want to give up, no matter how nervous he was. So he knocked again, and repeated his steps from the first time. He stood nervously as he waited to be answered.

This time, he got a response. The door took, what seemed like to Singer, forever to open. But it did. On the other side was Singer's awestruck mother. The two of them stared at each other for half a minute before Belle threw her forearms around Singer and pulled him in for a tight hug. Singer could hear the joyful sobs, and could feel the happy tears rolling down her cheek onto his shoulder. Singer took little time to return the hug. He wrapped his forearms around his mother and was content to just stand there all day. To feel the warmth of his mother again. It was just about how he'd imagined it.

"Mom..." he started to say before trailing off.

"Shhhh..." she stopped him, and looked at his face. "I'm glad to see you again."

"It's good to see you too, mom. I missed you." Singer said sincerely.

"You have no idea how I've missed your hugs." she said hugging him once more.

"Mom... just so you know that I've missed you. And have thought a lot about you ever since the last time I saw you."

"And I you..." she said wiping the tears from her eyes. "My goodness, son. You must be hungry. Please come on in."

Belle led Singer into the house and into the living room. Not much had changed on the inside, either. The place was tidy and well kept, save for the area where Singer's dad would sit when he'd come home from work. Singer noted. While he was on that subject.

"Mom... just to get this out of the way now. Is... Is dad going to be home soon?" Singer asked, almost awkwardly.

He could see a look of worry start to come upon her face.

"Don't worry, mom." Singer said in a soothing tone. "I...want to try to talk to him today, because I'm tired of all of this conflict between us. I want to be a family again."

Still a bit worried, Belle put on her most confident face she could muster up. "Yes. He'll be home in a few hours. Just please..."

"I know mom, I know. Inside voice." Singer smirked and chuckled. Belle couldn't help but giggle a little bit. She smiled at her son, happily.

"Still every bit the playful little colt you've always been." she beamed.

"Oh, you have no idea." he said. "Despite everything that's happened, even."

"Can you tell me about everything?" Belle inquired.

"Yes. We've got a lot of catching up to do."

Over the course of the hour, Singer and Belle sat in the dining room of their house sharing sweet tea and cheese fries, a personal favorite of his, as Singer explained everything. He'd explained how after the show in Canterlot, he'd discovered that it was Serenity who'd driven a wedge between he and Violet. Ultimately, at least to his knowledge, destroying the friendship he'd built ever since he was six years old. He then told her about the downward spiral that went on from there. What had happened when he'd found out about what Serenity did, them breaking up. His year of hiatus from music and having to work dead end jobs to keep himself balanced. Even when he decided to leave Las Pegasus and crash landed in Ponyville.

Belle cringed when he clarified what he meant by 'crash landing'. But she was proud when she heard him talk about all of the new friends that he'd made in Ponyville. And then he explained to her what his new mission was. First, it was get back with his family. She'd already heard from Brawn about he and Singer burying the hatchet, so to speak, after the attack from Thunder Clap. So part of that was done. And mending fences with Belle wasn't hard at all. The big one was his father. One that he knew would be a challenge. Or at least he felt like it would considering when last they saw each other and everything that was said. His next and final phase of his plan, was to get back together with Violet and be friends again.

"You've got quite a bit of dedication to Violet, Singer." noted Belle. "Not that you shouldn't, quite the contrary. It's just that, it seems like there may be something more to this..."

Belle knew about Violet's crush on Singer, due to her many talks with Violet over the past few years. And she'd always suspected that Singer liked her back, but just didn't realize it. She knew that Violet still loved Singer, even to this day. Despite what she'd told him at Canterlot. If it was at all still possible, she'd do her best to aid in the process of getting to the two friends out of the friend zone with each other.

"Mom... I don't think that-" Singer countered, still having doubts that Violet still wanted to even be his friend.

"Dinner's almost ready. Your dad will start smelling it and come flying home any minute." giggled Belle. She'd never tolerated negativity, especially from the cheeriest of her two sons, so she wasn't about to let him begin a new career in pessimism.

The purple furred pink maned pegasus mare continued to tend to her dish. As she did so, Singer heard the door open. Those familiar hoof steps coming up from behind him. It was only a matter of seconds before he'd see him again.

And again Singer began to tense up. He really didn't want to be this nervous about speaking to his own father. Part of him feared that a heavy conflict would arise upon seeing each other. However, Singer maintained his composure as well as he could when he finally saw him entering the kitchen from the front hall.

He was in his best attire. The normal black tie and white collar that he wore. He still had the same large square shaped glasses with the black frames, and the same neatly kept white mane to go along with his blue fur, almost the same shade as Singer's and the tired looking wings that were strained from aging and hours of hovering. His facial expression, one of exaspiration and tiredness was the same old expression Singer'd grown accustom to as a colt. Yet his facial expression quickly changed upon laying eyes on his second born for the first time in a little over four years.

Briefs' heart began to pound as he saw his son sitting at the table with innocent eyes. He looked every bit as nervous as he did. A sense of awkwarness was evident as Briefs laid his brief case on the table and took a seat a couple of chairs away.

"Well..." was all he knew how to say.

"Hello dad..." Singer tried to do a little better.

Belle watched intently, making a mental note to keep looking at her cooking as well. She wasn't really sure what was going to happen. But she pretended to not be too concerned so she could hopefully gain control over the situation, albeit that wasn't really going anywhere to begin with. However, she'd be lying if she'd said she wasn't nervous.

Finally Singer gathered up some courage and decided to speak. "So, how've you been?"

Briefs breathed a little in relief. He'd found it odd that he'd never been nervous about going to a court room, but when it came to staring face to face with the son who'd ran away because of his horrible parenting, he was near speachless. However, once he saw that Singer was just as nervous and had as civil intentions as he did, he too began loosen up, and replied as quickly as he could regather himself.

"Oh, you know... same life. Same career. Not too bad. And yourself?"

"Could be better, but... I could be worse as well." he responded. This wasn't near as nerve wracking as he'd expected it to be. "I'm really happy where I'm at though. My career is kind of on hold for now, but you know..."

"I see..." said Briefs.

"What?" Singer inquired. "What do you mean by that?" Darn it! He blew it.

"Nothing. I was just saying that I understand." his father replied.

"It's not because I didn't make it in the music business or anything. I just made a couple of bad misjudgements and it kinda set me back a bit, is all."

"You don't need to get all defensive, son. I was just-"

"I know, but I just felt like I needed to clarify that."

"Dinner's ready!" said Belle placing the pot of finished nacho soup on the table. She didn't like the way that the conversation had been going, so she'd placed the dish on the table to try and keep it from getting out of hand.

Both Briefs and Singer shifted their eyes awkwardly again, and expressed a little bit of shame in their features. Just a few minutes and they'd already began to show signs of arguing. Singer felt the worst for it, because he knew that he'd been the one who started it by being defensive. He made a mental note to refrian from that for the rest of the night.

They all dove into their meal and spent most of the meal in silence. Singer had been particularly grateful for this as he'd been getting hungry despite his big breakfast and the cheese fries he'd eaten not long after that. He usually had quite the appetite. After they'd finished, they all migrated into the living room and sat down to visit.

Belle had started the conversation with a story about how she'd coincidentally had bumped into Uncle Fender in town a few days prior. From what she'd said, it sounded like he was doing well for himself. He'd joined a band and happened to be on tour with them. Singer smiled at this, and was silently happy for him. At least one of us made it in our careers, Singer thought to himself.

Even Briefs, despite his feelings toward such things in the past, appeared to be a bit more accepting to this. "That's great for him." he said. "I'm glad that Fender finally has a place to screech that thing other than in our house."

Singer was a bit surprised at this, but shrugged it off. After a while of talking, Briefs began to feel a lot better. He wasn't sure what it was, but it was like for the first time, he was seeing his son in a whole new light. He hadn't, if ever, really taken the time to actually get to know him. He'd only ever seen him as a goof ball who liked to act out. But even in his career's and life's current state, nothing had really changed.

He seemed happy like he usually did, which was something that Briefs had always noticed, but never took the time to question it. It was then that it had hit him how wrong he'd been about trying to force his son to take athletics in school, rather than let him take his own career path. Because he remembered how when he'd tried to force all of that pressure on him that he wasn't cut out for that. At least not at the time. Singer had always been a laid back, free spirited colt and just wanted to have fun and sing.

Briefs began to feel a sense of guilt well up inside, and suddenly felt the need to go outside and think. "Could you two excuse me for a bit. I need to go outside and take a breather..." he said as he awkwardly walked to the small doors in the living room that led to the balcony outside. He rested his front hooves on it and began to stare out into the the mostly clear, slightly cloudy sky as the sun was beginning to set for the evening.

Singer hung his head slightly, thinking that he was the problem here. Belle noticed this, and quickly responded.

"I'm sure it's not you, sweetie. Your father's been dealing with a few things lately. Work related stress with a client of his, and other things..."

"What kind of other things?" he asked, hoping he wasn't overstepping.

"Well. Lately he's been reflecting on some of the choices he's made as a father and how it's affected the present. Sadly the reflection is pretty ugly to him."

"He wasn't a bad father, he just never really understood me. He always provided for us and took care of us. That's all I could have ever asked for. Even if I would've preferred us to have been on more common ground." Singer said in his father's defense.

His mother stared at him proudly. "You should go tell him that." She said turning her eyes to the glass doors.

"I dunno..." staggered Singer. "In the past, he's never really liked to be disturbed."

"Somehow, I feel this could be an exception." she said. "Go talk to him. This is what you came here for."

Singer hesitated for a few more seconds before sighing, and giving in to his mother's advice. "You're right. I suppose it's now or never." He got up and started toward the double glass doors that led outside. His heart was thumping, but he wasn't going to be deterred.

He gathered up the courage to open the doors and to walk up to his father's side. He rested his front hooves on the railing just like his father did.

He could see his father shift his gaze over toward him, and it looked like he was lightly smiling.

"I guess you and I are more alike than I thought." he said.

"I guess so." Singer chuckled. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah. I'm just thinking about how things were back then. I think you get where I'm going with this."

"I do. Dad, I really think we need to talk about what happened on the day of Brawn's wedding, and well everything before that. I can be civil about it, and I'm pretty sure you can too."

"I agree." Briefs said, starting to feel a lot more proud of the way his son was getting straight to the point. "You're every bit the hard headed colt I was when I was your age. And younger. Funny thing is, you remind me a lot of a younger me."

"I do?"

"Yep. But I knew where that type of attitude and kind of outlook ended me up, and back then I didn't really care for that. I guess I didn't realize how blessed I truly was until you left."

"You have a great life, dad. A great career, albiet daunting, a beautiful wife, and two sons who've always looked up to you. Even after... you know."

"I know... I was pretty selfish a few years ago, though. I was bitter that we had to move here, and I guess I held on to that for too long. I didn't want you to end up like I did, so I tried to get you into the same path that Brawn was on, because I've always viewed sports as a positive attitude developing experience."

"It depends on the pony. I won't say that I'm not grateful for the experience, but I just didn't want it in the volumes I was getting it in. I love to race from time to time. I'm pretty fast to add to that, but... it's just not what I'm meant to be in the long run. It's more of a fun pass time, than a career. What worked for Brawn didn't work for me. My cutie mark is a big indication of that."

"I understand that now... I tookt the liberty of swiping one of your mom's copies that you sent her of one of your tracks. The cover to that song called... 'Sideways'?"

"Aw no... that one wasn't my best one."

"I thought your vocals were really good, son. If that's not your best, then I'm pretty blown away. You're really good. And I mean it."

"That really means alot to me, dad..." Singer began to get emotional.

"Good. Glad I could finally do something right by you, in terms of moral support."

"Dad." Singer started. "I know you weren't perfect. But everything you did was always in my best interests. I know that, I've always known that. So even if you were a bit overbearing, you are still my dad. And upon realizing that, I feel like I can finally forgive you. If you can forgive me for leaving and causing all of this family stress."

"There's nothing to forgive, son... I'm just glad to have you back in my life again. And it overjoys me to hear you forgive me. I guess I made good on my promise to your grandma, after all."

"Grandma Joy?" Singer's ears perked up. "What did you promise her."

"Before she passed, she was quite aware of our friction. Her motherly intuition is strong like that, I suppose. She did raise me and Fender up like that, after all" he smiled fondly while reliving that in his mind. "She told me to promise that I'd start listening, and to try to understand you. And I did, but I just didn't do a very good job of it."

"Well you are now. I'm sure she's smiling down on us right now." Singer said with a warm smile. "I'm glad that we've finally put all of this behind us now. I love you, dad." He said as he threw his forelegs around him. Realizing who he was hugging, he backed up a bit awkwardly. "Sorry..." he chuckled. "I forgot that you always said that stallions don't hug."

"Another thing to add to the list of stupid things that I said to you kids, growing up." He grabbed Singer and gave him the biggest and hardest hug that he could give. "I love you too, son."

Belle was overjoyed when the two returned from outside. She'd been watching the interaction between the two. While she couldn't hear what they were saying, she could tell that progress was definitely being made.

Shortly after that, Brawn and Love Cloud had graced them all with their appearances. More ponies that Singer was glad to see. Having already reconciled with Brawn, he greeted him with a brohug, as well as a hug from his former school teacher and sister-in-law, that he hadn't seen since their wedding. And behind them were a couple of three year old colts. Both orange like their father, one having a red mane and tail, the other having a green mane and tail.

"Singer, meet your nephews, Rough and Tough Case." said Love Cloud said proudly.

Singer walked over to them to say hello for the first time, and was greeted with a hard whack in the nose by Rough, the little red haired colt.

"Ow!" Singer said, as he rubbed his nose.

"That's my boy!" said Brawn, proudly.

"I can't argue with that..." said Singer as he rubbed his nose. "They both certainly take after you."

The two then tackled Briefs, like they had done. Though still too small to make much of an impact, Briefs would pretend that their tackling was strong enough, and proceeded to play with them like a good grandfather should.

Singer smiled at this, and finally felt at home with his family. One down, one to go... said Singer in his mind, as his eyes turned to glance outside the window to see Violet's house. He hoped that his reconciliation with Violet would be as good as with his family.

"The times from that moment on were good for my family. It was like me coming back brought on a 'New World Order' for our clan, and it was great! What felt like a war became peace, and I felt like I was apart of a family again! Grandma Joy would most certainly be proud!"

...

"Come on, Singer! You can do it!" said Briefs as he stood on a cloud. "You zip around the house all the time. I know that you can fly for real!"

The little three year old colt looked down from the high up cloud, and quivered with fear. "I don't know about this, daddy..." he said fearfully. "What if I fall?"

"You won't, but if you do I'll be able to catch you!" reassured his father. "You're going to be okay! Just don't look down and fly to me!"

"Okay... I twust you..." he said as he flapped his little wings. He didn't look down, taking his father's advice, and he flew towards his father who was holding his forelegs open, ready to catch him. As he did so, he began to pick up a little speed. When he finally made it to his father, he'd gone a little too fast and knocked his dad over on his back when he'd caught him.

Briefs only laughed and hugged him. "You did it son! You did it! I'm so proud of you!"

Singer hugged back, as he enjoyed the loving embrace of his father.

Author's Note:

D'aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaw! I've been waiting for quite a while to do that flashback.

Almost done with this story! Just maybe 2-3 chapters left. Probably 2. Thanks for all who've reviewed up to this point! You're all awesome! Can't wait for Book 2, which is going to be so much fun! Even more so than this story has been! Expect to see more frequent updates when that one starts!

Thanks you guys!

-Auto

Comments

[SageBrony07]

That was so beautiful. Great job. Good luck with the next chapter. I can't wait to read how Singer and Violet react when they see eachother again.

[Skyfire Storm]

Very touching, my friend. Great work.