Finding Home

by Auto-Buscus

The Pains of Growing Up

"Are you ready?" said Violet.

"Huh?" said Singer.

"The prom... it's coming up! Are you excited?"

"Oh... yeah... I almost forgot about that!"

"How could you forget about it? It's what we've been talking about for the last three years!"

"Sorry..."

"What's wrong, Singer?"

"Oh nothing. Just a little tired after work last night."

"Oh yeah, how was your first day at your new job?"

"Tiring... Being a waiter is very taxing and it fries my nerves."

"Rough day, huh?"

"You don't know the half of it. I mean, I guess working with Uncle Fender is cool and all, but it's not exactly what I invisioned my life would be. I actually want to do something with it, ya know?"

"I understand completely."

Singer didn't like the idea of working in a fast food restaraunt, and hoped that he didn't have to do that for the rest of his life. Luckily for him, his uncle had a plan that neither of them would tell anypony about. He was now 17 years old and close to being done with school. Fender had approached him about going to Las Pegasus and trying for a music career. Singer hadn't exactly given him a definite answer yet, but he would eventually when he decided.

Life for Singer, regardless of his less than pleasing job, had been great as of late. Thunder Clap had left Cloudsdale two years prior to this, much to the relief of Singer and countless other colts and fillies, so his life was almost stress free. The only exception to that was his father constantly hounding him to get back into sports and Brawn, now moved out, showing up at the house with his friends and harrassing Singer about his failed attempt to be a racer.

While things between Brawn and Singer hadn't been going as well as they could have been, Singer still tried to be a good brother, despite their slight dislike for each other. They just couldn't get along. Most of it had to do with Brawn's insensitivity, at least as far as Singer was concerned. He would try his best to not show his annoyance when Brawn and his friends were around.

The two ponies, Singer could count on the most were his mother and Violet. His mother remained the one he could count on for anything, whether it would be advice, a shoulder to cry on, or just encouragement. His mother was always by his side and he loved her for that. Violet wasn't much different. He often found himself talking to mares and hanging with them, rather than hanging with other stallions, due to almost every other stallion making fun of him.

On the way to class, Singer and Violet were stopped by a couple of taller pegasus colts. One being a dark bown colt with a white mane and the other being a taller, light brown colt with a dark brown mane, which covered his eyes.

"Hey Singer NutCase" said the dark brown colt. "Where are you going with your marefriend? Huh?"

"Seriously?" said Singer. "Do you two have anything better to do? And we are just friends, for your information!"

"I bet you wish you were a mare, don't you? I mean all you ever do is hang out with them." said the taller colt.

"Well point me in the direction of a colt around here who has class and I might add a few of them to my friendship circle."

"Little boy blue has some strong comebacks, huh?"

"Why don't we see just how smart you are after we put you in your friend's locker?"

"Hey leave him alone!" said Violet. "We were doing just fine without you two coming and throwing your stupidity our way!"

"Quiet, you!" said the dark brown colt. "We were just kidding around... but still..."

Both colts grabbed Singer and tried forced him into Violet's locker, despite Violet's and Singer's opposing. Singer kicked and tried to break free, but in the end the two finally managed to shut the door on him.

"What a loser..." said the taller colt.

Violet quickly rushed to the door of her locker when the two colts had walked off and were out of sight, and opened it. Singer then fell out of her locker and on to the floor.

"Are you okay?" she said.

"Yeah... I'm fine." said Singer angrily.

"Everything will be okay." said Violet. "We are almost finished with school. We don't have to put up with this much longer."

"Believe me, nopony is more thankful than me. Ha ha... So, what were we talking about?"

"Prom..."

"Oh... yeah... actually, I was wondering if... maybe you weren't going with anypony else... if you'd like to..."

"Are you asking me to prom?"

"Yes... I mean... I know you and I are friends and everything, but... I really can't think of anypony else I'd rather go with... and..."

Violet put her hoof to his mouth. "I'd love to, Singer." She finally said.

"Really?" he said, surprised. Violet returned this with an amused facial expression.

"Why are you so suprised? You know that there isn't anypony I'd rather go with either."

"I don't know..." he cuckled. "I guess I wasn't sure if you would want to or not."

"You're my best friend. I'd go to the moon and back with you."

"Thanks Violet."

Something started to happen between the two of them. They both, without realizing it, began to get closer to each other and appeared close to a kiss. They both stood there, each in their own little world and their faces began to get closer together, when out of no where the bell for their last class began to ring.

"Oh crap!" said Singer snapping out of it. "We're gonna be late!"

"Oh... right" said Violet as she too snapped out of it and followed Singer to their last class for the day.

After school was out, Singer and Violet walked back home. Their daily routine was second nature by now, since they'd been doing it for the past eleven years. Both of them remembered what had happened before the bell rang, but decided not to speak of it.

"So... class was pretty boring today, huh?" started Singer after about five minutes of silence.

"Pretty boring would be an understatement." returned Violet. "I didn't think he'd ever get done with that lecture over the Legend of Nightmare Moon."

"I don't believe in that, myself." said Singer. "I hear it's just an old Pony's tale."

"I know... about like the adventures of Piper McCloud."

"Hey now, I'm quite fond of those books."

"Still?" said Violet with a giggle. "Everypony's into Daring Do now."

"I love me some Daring Do stories, but Piper McCloud will always be one of my favorites!"

"Some things just never change..." Violet paused after Singer started to turn a different direction. "Where are you going?"

"I have to turn this way to go to work." explained Singer.

"Oh... do you really have to go now?"

"Today I do. I'm sorry Violet. I know that we've walked home together every day since we were younger but... some things do change."

"I know." said Violet. "Things are fixing to change for me as well."

"How so?"

"Remember my mom's flower shop?"

"Oh yeah..."

"Well, I'm going to reopen it in her memory."

"Really? That's awesome, Violet!" said Singer excitedly. "You're mom would love it if you continued her legacy."

"I was going to keep it a surprise until later, but I figured I'd tell you now." she smiled.

"Well hey, if you ever need any help, and I'm off work, let me know and I'll zoom in faster than a herd of buffalo in a thunderstorm."

"What are you a country pony now?"

"Maybe lil lady." chuckled Singer, and changing his voice.

Violet giggled at Singer's change of voice. "When are you going to start showing everypony that you can mimic any voice?"

"I dunno... it's kind of weird. I'm not sure how well it will be recieved."

"You never know, they might like it."

"Maybe... well I gotta go, Violet. Please be careful."

"Don't worry about me it's just another few hundred feet to my house. Goodbye, Singer."

"See ya later Violet." He said speeding off to work.

It was busy at the restaurant that Singer was working at that day. Only his second day and Singer was already sweating and hard at work. Regardless of all of that, things were going considerably well. Singer hadn't messed up a single table yet and he was really taking to the waitering job like a fish to water.

"More water for you ma'am?" said Singer approaching a mare.

"Why yes please" she returned. "Thank you, young man!"

"No problem, ma'am!" said Singer, filling up her glass and moving on to the next customer.

"Need any ketchup for your fries?" asked Singer to another customer.

"No thank you." he replied.

"Okay then."

Singer's work day hadn't been at all what he'd been dreading. It was going pretty smoothly. Until they walked in. The two jerks from earlier in school. When he saw them, he flew behind the front desk and hid. Singer's uncle Fender tended to them while he hid.

"Evening brah" said Fender, tending to the two colts. "There's a booth over there next to the front desk."

Oh no! He didn't! The front desk was where Singer was hiding. He couldn't let them see him, so he snuck back into the kitchen where the boss was standing. At first the boss didn't see him standing by the kitchen doors, but after he got done chewing out one of the cooks, he turned around and saw Singer standing there.

"What are you doing back here? Get out there and serve the customers! I don't pay you minimum wage to stand there like a sissy!"

"Sorry sir... I... just... um... had to go to the bathroom... and I... don't know where it's at! Heh heh..."

"It's right there, dummy!" said the boss pointing to a door specifically labled "Colts' Bathroom".

"Oh... right... sorry..."

"Hurry up ya pansy! We ain't gonna serve customers by wasting time in the bathroom!"

"Roger that!" He said, speeding into the bathroom.

Singer sat in one of the stalls and began to tremble. This was one thing that he hadn't counted on. He knew that those two colts would some how try to mess him up if he showed his face out there. This was almost as bad as when Thunder Clap was around, but at least they didn't have a personal vendetta against him. He had to snap out of it. He had a job to do and he wasn't about to let those two knuckle heads stop him.

"My dad would kill me if he saw me cowering in the bathroom like a wuss! I need to get back out there and serve those ponies!"

He slowly opened the door of the bathroom stall and went to the sink to splash water on his face. The cool water felt good on his sweaty face and it helped relax him even further. It was until the door opened with the dark brown colt entering the bathroom, that Singer started to feel better. But when he and the colt stood there face to face, the latter giving the former a mischievious look, Singer knew things were about to get ugly.

"I-I'm warning you... I know karate!" said Singer.

"Save it for somepony who's scared of losers! I didn't know you worked here. This is going to be fun! This restaraunt sucks, but now that I know that you work here, me and my pal have a reason to come here... every day... and mess with you!"

"Stand back!" said Singer, glaring at him and holding a plunger. "This thing's loaded!"

The colt grabbed the plunger and stuck the cup part of it to Singer's face.

"GROOOOOOOOSS!" said Singer, pulling the plunger off of his face. His rage was growing and rapidly intensifying ever dying second, spent in the bathroom with the jerk. He wanted to get even. He didn't care if he was on the clock or not. This... was... personal.

"That's it!" said Singer. "I've allowed bullies like you to push me around for far too long! It's time I put a stop to that!"

"What are you gonna do? Cry me to sleep?" laughed the bully.

"No... I'm going to rip you apart!" said Singer attacking the bully furiously.

He tackled him first, then punching him several times in the face. The colt was a bit stunnded by this, and was unable to move while Singer attacked him. He then grabbed the plunger and stuck it on top of his head, adding insult to injury.

"Take that jerk!" said Singer dusting himself off and starting out the door.

As he reached for the door knob, he felt somepony grab his back hoof. This wasn't over. Singer turned his head back and saw that the bully had recovered. Having a malicious expression and holding the plunger in his left hoof, the bully stood up and pulled Singer back to him.

"You're going to wish that you'd never been born, Stinker!"

Moments later the bruised up bully walked out of the bathroom. Not going unnoticed by Singer's boss, how long it had taken Singer to come out, he angrily marched into the bathroom and found Singer tied up with toilet paper, and wet with what the boss hoped was sink water. Either way, the boss became furious at Singer.

"So... harrassing the customers are we?"

"No sir" replied Singer. "He came after me, I swear!"

"Likely story!" said the boss. "That customer looked pretty beat up when he came out, and he didn't look that way when he walked in. Trust me, I would have noticed if a bruised up pony walked into my restaraunt!"

"It wasn't my fault! Honest truth!"

"Shut up and quit wasting my time! Clean yourself up, clean up this mess and get out of here, you're fired!"

Singer hung his head in shame as the boss stormed out of the bathroom. He had screwed up big time. He not only felt shame, but also feared what would happen when his dad found out. He wasn't looking forward to that encounter at all.

Later that evening Singer finally found the courage to come home. He had spent the last few hours in the Cloudsdale park, sitting alone. He couldn't be around anypony right now, not even Violet. He had hoped that his parents weren't waiting for him when he walked in. He rubbed his leg before he opened the door and walked into his house. At first when he entered, he couldn't see anypony, but as he walked further into the living room, he saw that his dad had been sitting on the couch, reading a news paper. Singer knew he was in for it when his father looked up at him with disapproving eyes.

"One job... you had one job and you managed to blow it!" said Briefs angrily.

"Dad, you weren't there okay?"

"Don't speak! Listen. I have had about enough of your little excuses, Singer! Why couldn't you be more like Brawn? He took his jobs seriously and he didn't drop out of atheletics just because they were "too hard"."

"Is this about my job or are you still angry at me for quitting atheletics class?" countered Singer.

"Don't you dare question me, son!" snapped his father, while maintaning a low volume. "I am asking the questions. And I'm not going to tell you again to listen. And don't raise your voice, your mom is taking a nap!"

Singer flinched when his dad snapped at him and hung his head while he continued to chew him out.

"When are you going to learn responsibility? To take things seriously? To.... GROW UP? All you want to do is go out and have fun with Violet or... make corny or stupid jokes... or ask stupid questions all the time and now you've resorted to getting into fights?!? All of that energy that you have.... wasted on pointless fun!"

Singer's eyes began to water as his father's hurtful words started to sink in. How could he say things like that? All of that stuff was a part of who he was.

"What are you going to do with your life, Singer? Huh? Are you gonna go off and sing on the streets? Honestly as of right now that voice is the only thing you've got going for you right now because you seem to screw everything else up! And it isn't much!"

"Dad..." That was all that Singer could get out while trying to respond to his father. His eyes were more watery than a waterfall and his throat felt tighter than that suit that he had to wear to his cousin's wedding. He couldn't take it anymore, so he turned around and high tailed it to his room.

"Singer, don't you dare run off when I'm talking to...." he said as Singer rushed to his room and slammed his door. "That boy!"

"Briefs?" said Belle entering the living room, coming from her room, still wearing her robe. "What's going on in here?"

"Our brilliant son lost his job today."

"Oh no... is he okay?"

"Probably not after that talk that I just gave him."

"You didn't bring up atheletics again did you?" she asked with a cross tone.

"I might have..."

"Are you sure this is about his job or are you still taking out your disappointment on him?"

"It's about both... he needs to learn responsibility and to stop acting like a kid. He's seventeen years old now. Time for him to grow up!"

"Did it ever occur to you how upset he might be over losing that job? Huh? Or were you just so wrapped up in your disappapointment that you over looked that? He probably felt bad enough before you chimed in your words of 'wisdom'!"

"Honey, I was only doing what was best...."

"Dear, please... go to bed. Now... I'll go talk to our son."

"Fine" sighed Briefs as he walked toward his bed room, feeling a small amount of remorse for what he had said to his son.

Belle walked up to Singer's door and knocked a few times to try and get him to respond. When she didn't get an answer, she knocked again.

"Go away, dad! I don't want to talk to you anymore!"

"It's me" said Belle from the other side of the door.

"Are you going to yell at me too?"

"No. I just want to talk to you."

Moments later, Singer opened the door and allowed his mother to come in.

"Hey sunshine" Belle said to Singer. "Did you have a rough day today?"

"I've had better" said Singer, choking up.

"I'm sorry about your father. He didn't really mean all of those things that he said."

"I dunno, he seemed pretty convincing to me."

"He didn't... he's just grouchy because he has to deal with other ponies who act far worse than he did."

"You're taking his side?"

"No, it's just that your dad was just stressed out form work today is all. I'm sorry that you had to put up with that."

"It's fine, I'm used to it by now anyway..."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"I've been picked on at school ever since I can remember. It's probably my punishment for not standing up for that filly all those years ago."

"Hey, you listen to me. It's not your fault, whoever picks on you is the one with the problem. You are my son and you are a great pony. Your optimism and good attitude is what puts a smile on my face every day. I'm sure Violet would back me up on this. And as far as that incident all those years ago, it's in the past. It's time to move on."

"You, Violet, and maybe Uncle Fender are my only true friends in this world." he said hugging his mother.

"That's not true. Your father and brother both love you too. It's just going to take time for them to come to their senses. They aren't as bright as you are."

"You always know what to say to cheer me up, mom."

"Learned it from your Grandma Joy. Oh I sure do miss her."

"Me too, but I'm sure she's smiling down on us right now."

"I know she is."

"Try to get some sleep. You need it. I'll try to talk to your boss tomorrow and see if there isn't something we can't work out. And more good news, tomorrow is Saturday!"

"Awesome! Thank goodness for the weekend!"

"Good night, son."

"Good night, mom."

"My Grandma Joy used to tell me that when things are looking down, look up and laugh at them and make them wonder what hit them in the face. My Grandma was funny like that. Though that day was rough, I knew I had a great mom and a great best friend that I can lean on. I really don't know where I'd be right now if it wasn't for my mom or any of my friends. Oops! Did I use the word friend as a plural word? Yes, that's right I do end up making more friends along the way, but that's for another time."

Author's Note:

It almost happened again... Neither of them realize how much they want each other. But rest assured, they'll eventually figure it out.

But poor Singer. Only his second day at work and he gets fired. And his own father basically tears him down. But it's a good thing he has an awesome mom.

Disclaimer: this is in no way a reflection of my life at all. I have an awesome dad.

While this chapter was sad, next chapter will be adorably cute!

It has also occured to me, after someone pointed it out, that I have been mispelling Violet's last name. I'll have that corrected eventually, and apologize for that. lol

Comments

[Auto-Buscus]

Sorry for the those who follow this story on both FF.net and here. This chapter should have been published 2 days ago. Dadgum it. I don't know how I missed that!