Life Could Be A Dream

by TheAmazingMe

Family Life

“Are you okay?” I asked Bruiser as we set our bags down in my compartment. I’d caught him scratching himself with a rear hoof throughout the day. I was starting to suspect something.

“Yeah, why?” This particular bout of scratching became more vigorous. He inadvertently kicked his hat off. Apparently, his itch was severe, he left the hat on the floor in favor of more scratching. The colt looked like a dog scratching his ear.

“Bruiser, hold still.” I charged my horn. This got Bruiser's attention; I rarely used magic around him. He squeaked in surprise when the spell's light washed over him.

Within a second, my fears were confirmed. “Did you know you have lice?”

Bruiser’s eyes went wide. Next thing I knew, the colt made a run for the door. I fired up my horn, but knew I wouldn't have time to get a good shot. Before he could make a clean break, Open blocked the doorway.

“Oh, no you don’t. I heard Blot. We should’ve thought to check you over before letting you onto the train. Thank Celestia you haven’t gotten to sit or lay down. Now, do we have to tie you up or are you going to be a good colt?” He scowled at her for a moment, but she turned her own glare on him.

Finally, he looked away. “I’ll be good.”

“Stay with Blot.” She ordered. “Blot, I’ll get Cross. Hopefully she has something for this.”

Thankfully, Crimson Cross had stocked up on a variety of medicines on her trip into the city including a de-lousing rinse. Open and I thanked the medical writer, while Bruiser scowled and tried not to scratch himself.

Crimson tapped the colt's nose to get his attention. “Now my little pony, if you’ll accompany me to the tub then we can start ridding you of your little traveling buddies. And I’ll need the hat.”

Bruiser sat on his hind legs and wrapped his forehooves over his hat. “No.”

The adults sighed. Open spoke first. “Listen here, young colt. There are three unicorns here who could force you into the tub without raising a hoof.”

While certainly true for me, what Bruiser didn’t know was that it was unlikely either of the other two could lift a struggling colt magically. Maybe if we united our magic…

“Can I do it myself?” He asked petulantly.

Open sighed in exasperation. “I thought we had a promise on your honor as a paint pony.”

He changed tactics. “I want Mr. Blot to do it. He’s a stallion like me. Mares only wash babies.” That was an interesting viewpoint, I thought. I’d have to remember to ask where he picked up that idea.

Cross turned to Open and me. “We could force him. Ultimately it would be easier and less messy if he is willing to allow Mr. Inkwell the honors. I trust you can follow written directions?”

“You want me to wash him?” I asked, bewildered by the turn of events.

Open nudged me. Her expression practically sang ‘you got yourself into this!’ “Think of it as a little bonding moment.”

I sighed. “Fine.” I turned back to Bruiser, who dropped his rear leg suspiciously as our attention returned to him. “Cross will still need your hat. Your itchy little friends have started up homes on it, I’m sure.”

“You promise I’ll get it back?” I really didn’t see why it would be so special to him. It hadn’t even been that much. Frankly, I’d been surprised to see it in Manehatten.

“Cross my heart and wiggle my nose, I say it’s a promise and what I say goes!” I said, invoking Div's childhood promise chant. It earned me two interested looks from the other adults and a thoughtful look from Bruiser.

Finally, Bruiser gave Cross the hat with a serious look on his young face. “Please take care of it.”

Cross accepted it with a nod. “I will. I'd never forgive myself or anyone else if a foal was hurt.”

Bruiser led the way to the bathroom. He started the tub as I read the instructions. He wetted his coat, mane and tail as I finished the preparations on the bottle. As he sat in the tub, he finally broke his silence.

“This is embarrassing. What’s going to happen to my hat?” Bruiser said, covering his underside with both forehooves as he sat in the tub.

“Didn’t I promise you? Cross is treating it herself. It’ll be good as new in no time.” I reassured him.

“Why can’t I just use this stuff myself?” Bruiser asked plaintively. I wasn’t about to tell him, but he looked very cute with his deep blush and trademark scowl.

“We have to be thorough. I won’t lay a hoof on you, I’ll just use my magic until all the little critters are gone. Okay?” I popped the top of the de-lousing rinse.

“Make it quick.” He pouted.

I was rather inclined to oblige him. “Close your eyes and your mouth. I’m sure this won’t taste very good, so do yourself a favor and keep your mouth closed.” Even with his eyes closed, Bruiser scowled at me.

Wasting no more time, I drew the rinsing cream out and started to spread it out evenly on Bruiser’s coat, mane, and tail. My magic began working the rinse into a lather. It took a bit more concentration than normal, but then again I was normally doing this to myself in the bath.

Bruiser started squirming, his cheeks puffed out. His breathing got erratic and for a moment I worried I was hurting the poor colt. Just as I started easing off, he broke into peals of laughter.

“P-p-please, Mr. Blot. It-it tickles too much!” Bruiser begged between ill-contained bouts of mirth. I dropped the telekinesis for a bit to let him catch his breath.

“Can we continue?” I asked, mindful of the time-limit necessary for full effectiveness.

Bruiser tried cracking open an eye, but suds started moving down his forehead and he snapped it shut. “Don’t do it so lightly! It tickles worse when you’re gentle.”

“Be rougher. Got it.” I resumed the scrubbing spell. I made sure to pay special attention to a few trouble areas. His chest, fetlocks and cheeks had longer hair than a normal short-coated pony. Bruiser’s mane had grown lanky, although it looked very cute on him. I debated suggesting a trim and decided it could wait until he was in a better mood.

Some light teasing was in order. “So, you’re ticklish? Good to know.”

Bruiser shook slightly, his tail twitching in irritation as his scowl deepened. “There is no fool so great as a knowing fool.”

I paused, placing the quote after some thought. “Did you just quote Charles Stallion? I don’t think many colts even know who he is, let alone quote him.”

His expression softened. “My dam used to read him extensively. He was a prominent paint earth pony.” It took me a second to realize he spoke about his mother. I hadn’t heard anyone use dam or sire outside of a period novel.

“And a great speaker. His sermons drew thousands.” I replied.

“How do you know about him?” Bruiser asked, managing to open an eye to look at me.

“I took a course on Equestrian Religion. It seemed interesting. Not very many ponies these days are religious. I know I’m not.”

“The only religion my parents seem to recognize is our family tree.” Bruiser muttered.

I pulled back my magic, giving the colt a merciless tickling as I moved to turn the water on.

“Hey!” Bruiser shouted just before the spray of the shower drenched his coat. He jumped and would have moved out of the water had I not taken hold of him firmly in my magical grip. “Cold!”

“It’ll warm up in a second.” I promised.

A rinse and a drying spell later, I checked for signs of life in Bruiser’s fur. He shivered slightly as the spell’s light scanned over him. “Don’t tell me you’re still cold.” I muttered.

Bruiser was indignant. “You weren’t the pony who had to freeze his plot off waiting for it to get warm.”

“Watch your mouth, kiddo.” The spell finished, I sat contented. “Well, you’ll have to remember to thank Crimson, you’re bug free.”

“I will thank her.” He answered dutifully. “Thank you too, Mr. Blot.”

I smiled. “I feel like I can trust you to keep a secret. When we’re alone, please call me Life.”

Bruiser snorted rudely. “What kind of name is Life?”

I resisted the urge to ask him the same question about his name. “It's my real name. I’m Life Story.”

“Who’s Blot Inkwell?” I wondered idly if he thought I'd stolen somepony's identity. I hoped I hadn't.

“A pen-name I picked up for this trip. Writers use pen-name often, for various reasons.”

He nodded in understanding. “Thank you for trusting me, Mr. Life. I…I wish I felt like I earned it.”

“So, Bruiser…” I let question hang between us.

I ducked his head. “I guess you can guess that’s not my real name.”

I nodded. “Open taught me a lot about reading body language. I’ve gotten pretty good at telling when somepony lies to me.”

He lowered his eyes and shook. This time, I don’t think it was due to the cold. “I…I trust you, but…”
“Bruiser is fine for now. We’ll need to know your real name soon enough to help find your family.”
Bruiser nodded numbly.

“Now, it’s time for bed. I’ll make do with the floor so you can…” Bruiser looked up at me I horror. “What?”

“I-I never…well I mean I haven’t…it's just.” He shifted his weight nervously.
I recognized those signs. What did Div tell me when I was panicking? “Bruiser, it’s okay. Just take a deep breath and tell me what’s wrong.”

He gulped in air. The poor colt looked miserable. “I don’t want you to go to any more trouble for me. I already can’t repay you for everything so far. I can’t take your bed too. It just wouldn’t be right! I want to sleep on the floor.”

I spoke reflexively. “Absolutely not! You’ve been through enough.”

“I won’t sleep on the bed!” He said stubbornly.

“I’m not going to let you sleep on the floor!” I stated firmly.

We stared at each other for a long time. After a minute of silence, I could tell this wasn’t going anywhere. “How are we going to do this? Do I have to get Open?”

He shook his head. “It's simple. If you won’t sleep on the bed or let me sleep on the floor, then we’ll either share the bed or we’ll share the floor.”

“The bed is more comfortable.” I offered, hoping to lure him in to taking the bed himself. “It's not very big, are you sure you want somepony that close to you. You don’t even know me.”

“I know your real name.” He countered. “Besides, if you do anything bad to me, Doc Cross will skin you alive.”

I didn’t doubt the medical pony's proficiency with knives. “If you’re comfortable with it, then fine.”

“You get in first.” He ordered. I snorted, but I obliged him. I scooted over on the bunk until I hit the wall. I slept on my side, facing out towards Bruiser. Even so, there wasn’t a lot of room left.

When I settled, he slid in beside me. He slept on his stomach, it seemed. The colt took up less room than I’d feared. We fit together on the bed just right.

“Mr. Life?” The lilt in his voice turned my name into a question.

“Yes?” I answered.

“You’re sure I’ll get my hat back?” He asked timidly.

I used my hood to brush his mane back so I could look into his eyes. “You don’t trust ponies very easily. I understand, you must have dealt with a lot of ponies like Vinny.”

He nodded, eyes turned away from me for a moment.

“May I ask why that hat is so important?”

His eyes reconnected with mine in surprise. “It's a gift from you.”

“I don’t understand.” I sighed.

“It’s the first time somepony has ever gotten me anything.”

“You mean besides your family?” I asked.

He shook his head. “My family never got me anything.”

I wasn't sure I believed it. “You mean anything you wanted?”

“No, sir. I mean anything just for me. I have a large family, my parents have ten living kids. I’m the youngest.” He stated, emotionless. I tried very hard not to think of why he had to include the qualifier ‘living' in his count of siblings.

I let the silence fall between us. Bruiser buried his head in the pillow. His small shoulders shook. “Bru, are you okay, buddy?”

“I’m sorry.” He said, his voice tight and muffled.

“Don’t apologize, I know families can be rough.” His sobs grew more intense.

“Why are you so nice to me?” Bruiser asked. “I’m horrible. I’m moody. I have an attitude and I’m stubborn. Worst of all, I’m a crybaby.”

Hesitantly, I rested a foreleg over his shoulders. His shaking slowed and he looked at me with one eye. “You are a good colt, Bruiser. You have your rough spots, but inside you there’s something very special.”

“What do you mean?” He asked seriously.

“You have a good heart. You care about other ponies. You’re independent; you don’t want to owe anypony anything. Whatever you do, you give it your all, whether that’s stealing or helping out. There’s a lot to admire about you, even if you don’t think so.” I hugged him tightly to my chest. He nuzzled my neck.

“Good night, Bru.”

“Good night. Mr. Life.”

*

I awoke to the crash of plates and silverware. Bruiser's eyes got wide as I looked from the mess on the floor up to him. Tears formed in the corners as he threw himself down to pick things up.

“I’msosorryI'llpickeverythingupandgetyousomethingfreshIpromisepleasedon'tbemadatmeI…” His words blended into a garbled mess. Not that being only half awake helped. Even in my haze, I could practically feel what Bruiser was going through.

“Bruiser, stop please.” I ordered tiredly. The colt slowly rose; the poor guy couldn’t even make eye contact.

“Mr. Life, I’m sorry.” He started. I waved a hoof to silence him.

“Come here, Bruiser.” I said as I yawned. Only when it took him a few moments did I realize he had his eyes screwed tight and his chin tucked in. As he entered hoof-reach, he flinched away. None of this boded well.

Without a second thought, I pulled him into a hug. “Calm down, buddy. I’m not mad. I’m not going to yell at you. Celestia knows I would never hurt you. So take a deep breath, Bruiser.” The colt started bawling and threw his forehooves around my neck. I pulled him up into my lap, his rear legs draped off to on side. Within seconds he grabbed my hoof and clutched it in his. I contented myself with running my free hoof through his mane as he cried into my foreleg.

When he’d cried himself quiet, I tugged gently my foreleg away, but he covered his face with his hooves. I knocked on them. “Anypony in there?” I asked lamely.

“You promise you’re not mad?” I’m glad he had his face covered; I’m sure I must have looked irritated. It hurt me to think that somepony must have hurt Bruiser a lot for him to react like this.

“Cross my heart and wiggle my nose, I say it’s a promise and what I say goes!” I answered emphatically.

He snorted into his hooves. Slowly, he lowered his hooves, using the gesture to wipe at his eyes. He looked back up at me sheepishly.

“I'm sorry.” He said for the millionth time. I rolled my eyes.

“I trust you didn’t do it on purpose. And really, there’s not too much of a mess.” I surveyed the damage. Really only the silverware and some food had made it onto the floor. No big deal for a unicorn.

“I promise I’ll clean it up.” He moved to jump out of my lap, but I held him tight.

“Just this once, let me take care of it. Do you know what the benefit to being a unicorn is?” He shook his head. I fired up my magic and levitated the remnants of my breakfast. The parts on the floor made their way to the trash. I organized the rest on the platter and placed it on the bedside tray table.

“I’ve never seen anypony levitate so much at once.” Bruiser said, awestruck.

I smiled. “This really isn’t all that much.” I demurred. Taking a look at the breakfast, I was immediately struck by how much food was on the platter, even accounting for what fell to the floor. “Bru, is this all for me?”

Bruiser nodded emphatically. “Ms. Open said you should have a big breakfast. I…I just made it a little too big to carry.”

“No kidding.” He blushed. “Have you eaten yet?”

“No sir.” He answered dutifully. I winced at the honorific, but it was beyond my capabilities to argue with a colt about social graces. Well, beyond my capabilities this early in the morning.

“Well, then you and I can split this between us.” I offered.

“Um, the silverware?” He reminded me.

“You can go get another set, or do what I do.” I said, picking up a pancake magically.

“I can’t levitate my food, sir.” He said drily.

“No, not that!” I took the pancake and placed the hash browns on top. I poured a bit of syrup and butter on top and rolled it up. “Breakfast wrap.” I announced as I presented the fruit of my labors to him.

“That’s weird.” He commented as he took the wrap from me. The colt waited as I rolled up another one for me. I actually had to take a bite before he would eat. His manners were good, given the situation.

As we ate, Cross knocked on the door. I invited her in, and she proudly displayed Bruiser’s hat. The colt practically vibrated in excitement, but looked torn between his food and his hat.

Setting down his wrap. He faced me. “May I leave the table, sir?” I nodded, my mouth full. He dashed off to the washroom to clean his forehooves.

Cross looked at me with interest. I swallowed quickly and explained. “I didn’t do this, he came like that.”

She laughed. “I haven’t seen a colt ask permission to leave the table since I was a filly. I’m more concerned that you’ll corrupt his manners.”

As my mouth was once again occupied I gave her a grin and rolled my eyes.

Bruiser practically pranced back over to Cross, his tail held high. “Thank you kindly, ma’am. This means a lot to me.”

“You’re quite welcome, and might I say I much prefer this colt to the argumentative one yesterday?” She said, teasingly.

He ducked his head. “I'm very sorry about that, ma’am. My mood impaired my manners.”

She looked uncomfortable, not expecting an apology like this. “My, I'm teasing. Please, you were rational, at least. A good many of my grown patients couldn’t even say as much.”
She offered him the hat. He accepted it gratefully and flipped it onto his head. When he raised his head again, he smiled broadly.

I only wish I hadn’t noticed how fake his smile looked.

Author's Note:

Yay! Finished this much sooner than expected so TADA! Early update.

I'm sure you won't mind.

Please send corrections by PM.
Comments, critiques and fangasms are welcome below.
If you enjoyed it, consider sharing the story! Thank you and much luv! <3

Comments

[Skarsnik]

I think you mess up with his hat, Like you write the colt hide with his hat before the doc came with his clean hat, Or he is a distant sibbling to Pinkie Pie and he hide hats everywhere in case of hat emergency!

[TheAmazingMe]

6238046 good catch, fixed it.