The Apple of White's Eye

by DraconequusMaximus

The Whole Bushel

White Night & his lover Braeburn had packed their bags & explained the situation to the ponies of Apploosa who all offered their condolences to Braeburn for the loss of his aunt Applesauce. The pair needed only stay a couple days in Ponyville but White had twisted Braeburn's leg into letting them stay a full week so he could get to know the stallion's most immediate family better. The day of their departure arrived & they trotted off to the train station. Braeburn was unusually stoic so White purchased the tickets himself. Before long the pair boarded the train, finding a secluded car, they settled in.

The ride was nearly silent for the first hour until White couldn't take it anymore.

"Brae, I know this is hard for you but I've never seen you so quiet, it's just worrying me a lot." He exclaimed. The look on his angel's face broke Braeburn out of his funk at which point he sighed heavily.

"Ahm sorry Angel but Ah haven't kept in touch with anypony in the family since my parents passed, Apples are supposed to stick together when things get bad. Ah feel like one bad Apple right about now."

"The only thing bad about this Apple is his rotten attitude, Brae you were going through a tough time, you made a mistake shutting your family out. But I'm here to make you fix this mess. Do you remember Hearth's Warming? You told me not to judge myself so badly because it hurt both of us, well now you're not taking your own advice Brae. It'll turn out alright. Just remember I'll be right there with you." With his sermon over he placed a kiss upon Brae's cheek.

"What did I do to deserve you Angel?" Braeburn asked as a smile returned to his face.

"You broke me out of my neurotic shell of a former self & showed me what it was like to be loved in every definition of the word." White stated smugly. Causing Braeburn to blush deeply.

"Did you prepare that ahead of time?" Braeburn asked still a shade of pink.

"We have been preparing for this for awhile now Brae." He stated matter-o-factly.

"I love you so much Angel." The golden stallion said happily

"I love you too Sweetie. Now lets get some rest before I start to panic too." With that the two drifted off after some effort.

The sound of the train whistle woke them several hours later, they headed into Ponyville to find a hotel to spend their stay in Ponyville in. With some effort they managed to find one not yet full of other Apples also there for the reunion to celebrate the Life of Auntie Applesauce. The "room" turned out to be nothing more than the dark, dank, attic of the hotel. White being a thestral didn't see the problem with the room so Braeburn decided just go along with it. Neither stallion tried anything physical as they slept that night due to the mass amount of Braeburn's family members in the floors below them being a huge mood killer.

The morning arrived & White & Braeburn prepared themselves for the day ahead. The pair waited until they had stopped hearing movement below to leave as Braeburn wanted to wait until they reached the farm to see everypony. White submitted to his terms, but eventually pushed his love out the door with great difficulty. White & Braeburn slowly made their way out to Sweet Apple Acres.

White was impressed at the size of the farm compared to the orchard back home. Even with bare trees the place was quite beautiful. White had a hard time believing that his lover feared the place for any reason. He looked over to his stallion who was attempting to calm his nerves by taking deep breaths periodically. White supposed this was an understandable reaction to the stress of the situation.

The pair was just past the entryway to the farm proper when White felt something peg him in the back of the head.

"Ow! what the hay was that?" The disgruntled thestral looked down to see the offending object was a small off-white bulb.

"Garlic? where the hay did-" White managed to say before being cut off by:

"Get away from mah cousin ya blood sucker!" Said a butter yellow filly with bright red mane & tail.

"Applebloom! What they hay are you doin?'" Braeburn yelled at the filly in question

"Saving you from the vampire?" Said Applebloom suddenly less sure of herself.

"White ain't a vampire! He's a thestral, a member of the royal family, & above all mah coltfriend! & you just hit him in the head with a vegetable!" Braeburn said angrily. At this Braeburn noticed her ears droop and eyes begin to tear up, making him feel terrible for making his little cousin cry. But, before Braeburn could apologize White punched him in the shoulder without saying a word & trotted over to the filly. He looked at her sympathetically before patting her on the head saying:

"Applebloom was it? Look, I'm not angry at you for the garlic thing, & I'm sure Braeburn didn't mean to upset you but Auntie Applesauce's passing has taken it's toll on him, & I swear that I would never hurt Braeburn. We're in love & I'm not a vampire." White said trying to soothe the filly's worries. Braeburn noted how good White was with foals.

"So you aren't gonna call the royal guard on me for hittin' ya in the head with garlic?" Applebloom asked with enormous sad-eyes that melted White's heart.

"Of course not! I couldn't arrest a filly." White added with a chuckle.

"I'm sorry though, yer highness, I was being a foal." She replied.

"You can just call me White. I don't have any real political power or anything." White said blushing.

"So y'all are a couple like miss Bon Bon & miss Lyra are?" The filly asked slightly confused.

"Well I don't know who those mares are but yes, it's the same thing. We're just stallions." He explained.

"Ok, so are y'all getting married like they did?" She asked innocently, Causing both stallions to stand there with red faces & open mouths.

"Applebloom?! Where are ya? We need, more cider! Go an' fetch it from the cellar!" A country accent yelled from the distance, breaking the awkward silence much to the relief of the stallions.

"Oh! That's Applejack I gotta go! Good to see ya cuz. Nice meetin' ya White!" She yelled as she sped off to the cellar.

"White, I-"

"Lets not have this conversation until after we fix your relationship with the rest of the Apples, okay?" White said as he placed a hoof gently upon Brae's mouth. To which Braeburn could only nod affirmative.

The couple walked further into the farm noticing several Apple family members in winter-gear chatting with one another. Several waved at Braeburn while others glanced at the couple unsure of what to make of them. This did little for either stallion's confidence. Braeburn was especially troubled because he couldn't help but think to himself:

"What's stopping me from asking him to marry me? It's legal & not so morally questionable to thestrals now. Ah know we haven't been together a very long time but we've been through so much, & we're so good for each other..." When no answer made itself known to him all he could do was sigh.

"Brae we've been standing in front of the house for like 5 minutes." White said breaking him from his self-contained melodrama.

"Whuh?" Braeburn stated as he returned to the scene at hoof.

"Oh, um... lets just go in then." He failed to say nonchalantly. To which Withe could only roll his eyes.

The farm-pony looked upon the house with both apprehension & nostalgia before knocking on the door. A moment passed before the door opened revealing an enormous red stallion with a sprig of wheat in his mouth. Th stallion despite his intimidating size had a gentle expression on his face.

"Howdy Big Macintosh. It's been awhile, hasn't it cousin?" Braeburn said guiltily.

"Eeyup." Was the only response Braeburn received. After a moment Big Mac motioned to White with his hoof.

"This is White, he's my special somepony, we've been together a few months now." Braeburn still not sounding himself told the hulking stallion. The farm pony then walked over to Whit whom he towered over. He stopped & began lifting a forehoof to the thestral. White visibly cringed but immediately felt silly as he saw Big Mac was merely asking for a hoof-shake.

"Heh, sorry. It's a pleasure to meet you Macintosh." White said as he accepted the greeting.

"Eeyup." was again his response.

"You don't say much do you Mac?"

"Nope." A smug Mac said.

"Mac here is one of us, so you ain't gotta worry none. Just don't go spreadin it around ok Angel?" Braeburn said, his expression slightly brighter. White was surprised but nodded none the less. Brae & Mac caught up a bit, White interjecting when the situation called for it. Though Mac probably only said 10 words the whole conversation. The trio entered the house soon were an elderly mare was napping in a rocker while an orange hoof motioned them around a corner into the kitchen. White immediately recognized her from the paper in Canterlot awhile back. It was Applejack the element of honesty herself, a national hero. White was glad he was already as pale as scientifically possible, because all confidence he had immediately left him when he saw her.

"Braeburn, ah didn't expect you here, you ain't been to the last three reunions. Did you come to pay your respects to Auntie Applesauce?" Applejack asked currently not noticing White.

"Yes, but I wanted to catch up with everypony & apologize for losin' touch. But I wouldn't be here without some convincin' from White here." Braeburn said as he motioned to the aforementioned thestral with a hoof. Applejack only now noticed the stallion who was trying to make himself seem as small as possible. White was surprised as the mare lifted him into a firm hug.

"Thank ya kindly for bringin' Brae back too us White, I was afraid I wouldn't get to meet ya what with Braeburn shuttin' himself off from us." The mare stated happily.

"You knew about us?" Both stallions asked confusedly.

"Well sure, y'all were all over the papers for a week! Never imagined you'd hook up with royalty cuz." The mare said before letting White out of her death-grip.

"You're okay with me bein' gay? I always thought you were more... traditional?" Braeburn asked genuinely surprised.

"Brae, we always kinda suspected it of ya. Ain't nothin wrong with love even the princesses say so, who am ah ta judge?" She said as if it was the most obvious thing ever. To Braeburn's surprise. The rest of the conversation progressed well & both White & Braeburn began to relax. Since it was February & the house was not large enough to accommodate the entire family the reunion would be held in the barn. The four soon departed to the barn & were joined by Applebloom, Granny Smith wouldn't be joining them as it was too cold in the barn. White was reassured that the other elderly Apples would be joining her where they would reminisce about Auntie Applesauce. When they reached the barn White saw dozens of ponies most all of them with apple related cutie-marks. Music & food abounded & everypony was having a good time. But in the center of a wreath at the back of the room was a photograph of an elderly green mare holding a pair of false teeth. There was a line of ponies taking turns paying their respects at the wreath. White motioned for Braeburn to join the line who nodded sadly.

Braeburn eventually made it to the front of the line. He took a moment before saying:

"Auntie, ah'm sorry I didn't get to see you more before this happened, but after my parents passed in the fire everything seemed so different. I couldn't stand seein' everypony else happy with their loved ones, so I convinced myself I didn't have any anymore. But I met somepony who had never been loved, & I realized how wrong I had been about everything. Now I have one more loved one, & I think talking to you like this has made me realize something else. I haven't asked him to marry me because I was worried that would change how things were between us. That's what I've always been afraid of, that's why I didn't come out to Ma & Pa before it was too late. Being back with the family & White I've realized I've been missing y'all terribly. I owe everything to him, I wasn't planning on coming back to the family. I would've missed so much."

At this point Braeburn had started sobbing from guilt & happiness & whole spectrums of other emotions. After a moment the familiar sensation of a leathery wing sliding over him gained his attention. White was looking at him with a warm smile.

"I'm proud of you, I didn't mean to eavesdrop by these ears hear everything. I'm so proud of you, you've been holding it all in for a long time. But you finally let it out." White said as he began to tear up himself.

White helped Braeburn back to his hooves. They returned to where they had been with the Apples that lived here. After Brae & White had calmed down Brae scanned the distance between them & the photograph.

"How'd you hear me all the way over here over all the ponies talkin?"

"The funny ears aren't just for show sweetie." White said as he pointed to the tufted ears with a hoof.

"So can you-"

"Yes, I can hear you sing in the shower from the bedroom even though you have the radio on." White said with an evil smile. Causing all of the other Apples to chuckle Braeburn's expense. The Apples & White traded various stories about their lives for several hours. Ponies eventually came to meet White & say hello to Braeburn, most of the Apples accepted him & if they hadn't they certainly didn't show it.

After the reunion the stallions had been offered the guest room in the Apple family home which they accepted.The night was still young so the stallions went back to Ponyville to retrieve their belongings from the hotel. Upon their return to the farm they found dinner was waiting for them, as apparently Granny Smith & the other elderly Apples had cooked lots of food during their little reunion. She had already headed to bed by now. The meal went well, stories were shared & laughs were had, at one point White excused himself to go to the restroom. Once Braeburn was sure he was out of range Braeburn leaned over to Applejack & whispered:

"Is there a good jeweler in town? There aren't any in Apploosa." Applejack immediately smiled & whispered the location of the building in question to her cousin. Braeburn swore everypony to secrecy before White returned unaware of what had gone on.

When dinner ended & everypony had split up to do their own thing, Braeburn said he needed to get some exercise which White was curious about but let the stallion enjoy his alone time as he didn't want to seem needy. White decided he would play with Applebloom to keep himself entertained. After finding the filly in question they played hide & seek, & several other games that Applebloom won each time despite the stallion's best efforts. This continued to happen until White asked:

"Care for a snowball fight?" The battle that ensued would go down in history as one of the most one-sided in history.

"You Cheated! You're invisible in the snow!." Applebloom whined. White merely stuck his tongue out at her as he trotted alongside her back towards the house. When the two returned White was overjoyed to find Braeburn sitting on the couch. Brae immediately took notice of his lover & his sopping wet shivering cousin.

"Snowball fight?" He asked with a smirk.

"Eeyup." was her response. The stallions merely laughed & fetched a blanket for the filly. After they were sure Applebloom was alright they retired to bed for the night. Both looking forward to spending the next few days with the Apple family.

Comments

[Vinyldropsthebase]

Im glad ur back and Applebloom got owned

[DraconequusMaximus]

3616556 Thanks! Always good to have some support, & don't be too hard on her she's just silly sometimes & Braeburn was already having a stressful day.

[Vinyldropsthebase]

Yea your right this is gonna be sad but good

[DraconequusMaximus]

3616580 Nah, that was most likely the worst of the sad stuff. But then again I'm still writing.

[Vinyldropsthebase]

3616586hopefully it was the end but i have a feeling that Whites commander is gonna return at some point

[BigMacintosh1]

i do have to say some spelling mistakes were made shame on you but besides that im rearing up and ready to read more!!