Ballad of the Brobdingnag

by Jongoji245

Chapter 2: A thing about Lies and Truths

At the edge of the Everfree Forest, bushes can be heard rustling as Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo bolted out of the forest. Scootaloo hopped onto her scooter and as soon as Sweetie Belle hopped onto the wagon, they drove off as fast as they could. Cosgrove walked out of the forest with a very afraid Apple Bloom. The farm filly was staring at the ground the whole way, her face was red with dry tears. Ponyville had encounters with massive creatures, but none as remarkable as what the Crusaders saw more extraordinary. Cosgrove ran into his house, came back out with a chair, and placed it behind her.

“How long…” Apple Bloom rubbed the chair slowly . Cosgrove looked at the ground, took a deep breath, then looking back at Apple Bloom.

“It was a year and a half before I met you, after I left the circus to my home. I was walking along the Everfree forest to gather ingredients for green tea when I noticed a red object lying next to a berry bush. I thought it was a sweet potato, and took it home to prepare it for dinner. By the time it was dinner, the object was the creature. I would’ve smashed him first hand… but how could I? So I cared for him, gave him a name.”

“What kind of name?” Apple Bloom asked

“A simple dog name”- Cosgrove turned to the forest -“Schnookums. “I fed him berries I have picked from the bush. The next morning” - The past Cosgrove walked down before being startled - “I noticed Schnookums grew in size. At first it wasn’t a problem, but the days passed and he was growing faster; Schnookums was the size of a buffalo by the time I released him into the Everfree Forest.” -the vision fades to a present Cosgrove- “By the time I met you…” -Cosgrove turned to Apple Bloom- “Schnookums was already four-fifths the size he is now.”

Apple Bloom’s eyes have less of a shocked look to them.

Cosgrove offered to take her back to Sweet Apple Acres, to which she softly agreed. The two foals didn’t talk to each other as they made their way back to Sweet Apple Acres.

Cosgrove asked Apple Bloom, “Can you promise that you and your friends won’t tell?”
Apple Bloom looked unwilling to do so.

“It’s alright if you tell Applejack.” Cosgrove added. It would be easy to keep it a secret from everypony, but it is especially tough when you’re a very good friend to the sister of the Element of Honesty. When they reached the farm, the pair saw a figure with an oil lamp galloping towards them. The figure revealed itself as Applejack upon reaching them.

“Where in the hay have you been,” Applejack shouted, “Ah and Rarity were worried sick since sunset!”

Apple Bloom was about to talk when Cosgrove intervened.

“I saw the CMC walking by my house and I invited them over for tea and we played a game of hide and seek.” - Cosgrove stood up with a straight face -“I wanted to invite Rumble and Button Mash over, but they had homework to make up.”

Bold… Very bold of him... to tell a lie at the honest Applejack. The farmer craned her neck down to the colt, giving him a good look at his straight face.

Applejack’s stern face softened a little.
“At least you held yourself responsible,” - She then raised her head up - “You better return home.”

Cosgrove started to turn around, looked at Apple Bloom, then walked away. When he was at the Sweet Apple Acre property line, Cosgrove started going into a full gallop. He continued at full speed until he was at Sugarcube Corner, where he stopped, hugged his back against the wall and sneaked a look at the town square. He practically did the impossible and came out unscathed (which would be asking a lot). Cosgrove exhaled with a shiver, then continued his gallop back to his home.

Applejack and Apple Bloom entered their house and started walking upstairs to their rooms. However, Apple Bloom noticed her sister following her into her room. When the filly sat on her bed, Applejack closed the door and walked up to her. Cosgrove told his side of the story, now it is her turn.

“Apple Bloom, I think there is something you’re not tellin’ me,” -Applejack pulled up a chair -“If you stayed out all night, you must’ve done somethin’.”

Apple Bloom just remained silent and kept looking away from her sister.

“Y’know I can keep doin’ this all night.” - Applejack shuffled to her sister’s line of sight- “Apple Bloom, you’re covered in dirt and I see dried tearss on your face. Who hurt you?” -She noticed Apple Bloom’s straight face started becoming a sad one- “Did Cosgrove-”

Apple Bloom immediately hugged her sister and started crying.

“Applejack! It was horrible! Ah-ah an’ Scoots and Sweetie Belle we-were-”

“It’s all right sugarcube,” -Applejack rocked her sister back and forth -“Ah didn’t say Ah was angry, Ah was worried, and so was Granny and Big Mac.” She placed Apple Bloom back on the bed. “Would you feel all right if you talked to me? I am always here for you, sis.”

Apple Bloom briefly looked away for a while, took a deep breath and started to talk to her what had happened on that night, including what she saw. What surprised Applejack was that despite her sister’s tall tale claims and gestures to show off the thing she saw, she actually felt that she was being told the truth. As Apple Bloom was finishing, she started to yawn.

“All right, sugarcube. You need to rest.” Applejack guided the listless Apple Bloom to her bed, tucked her in, turned off the light and walked out the door. If Apple Bloom told the truth, then why did Cosgrove lie to me? she thought to herself as she walked to her room.

The following morning, school became in session. However, what happened yesterday evening continued into today. Cosgrove and Apple Bloom appeared very tired, along with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. Button Mash was also tired also, but that was because he had a video game binge last night. As they walked at the school before the bell rang, Apple Bloom told Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo not to tell anypony of what they saw, to which they immediately Pinkie Promised. As class continued the three fillies and colt started succumbing to their exhaustion. At one point, Ms. Cheerilee spotted something odd about Cosgrove.

“Cosgrove…” Cheerilee cocked her head as the colt raised his sleepy head, “Are you… chewing on your crayons?”

Realizing this, he immediately wiped his mouth on his drawing paper and made a crude picture.

“What? Thith ith how cave drawingth are made!” he answered to his confused classmates before going to the sink to wash his tongue.

Recess followed after lunch. Everypony was having fun except the mentioned four late nighters. Dinky would try to show her improved magic skill to Cosgrove only to see him dozing off on the swing set. Indigo Blue along with a few others foals were playing marco-polo with Apple Bloom as the latter. The game ended soon as Apple Bloom tripped and fell face first into the sandbox and stayed there. Sweetie Belle and Button Mash did play videogames, but Sweetie Belle was oddly playing Tetris rather than Minecraft, much to Button’s confusion. Rumble looked at those three and seeing Scootaloo with her head laid down on the wooden table prompted him to get some answers.

“Hey Scootaloo.” Rumble asked.

Scootaloo opened her eyes slowly.

“What…?” she said with a groan.

“You, Cosgrove, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle are awfully strange today. And I was thinking if you had done anything strange.” - Rumble didn’t notice Scootaloo shifting her hear away - “Did you eat too much at Sugarcube Corner? Those cupcakes pack quite a lot of sugar...” Rumble continued on until Scootaloo could take no more of it.

“Apple Bloom thought Cosgrove was acting strange, so we followed him to the Everfree Forest and we were scared the bejeebies out of us when we saw that monster!” Scootaloo shouted at such a loud voice it could have been heard across Equestria.

The voice reached Pinkie Pie’s ear and gasped, “Someone broke a Pinkie Promise!”

Back at the school, everypony was looking at Scootaloo, who then eyed Apple Bloom, who tilted her face upwards out of the sandbox. She then eyed at Sweetie Belle, who was distracted long enough to constantly lose Tetris games. And finally she eyed Cosgrove, with one of his hooves covering his face as he shook his head with an agitated growl. Rumble, after have a scared look on his face, soon started to chuckle. Scootaloo looked at the grey pegasus before the other colts and fillies joined in the laughter.

A couple hours past when the end of school bell rang, as usual all the fillies and colts ran out the door. Rumble stayed by with Cosgrove and the CMC for a moment.

“Say, what happened during recess… no offense?” Rumble fluttered in front of them.

“None taken.” Cosgrove emphasized his answered with a very nasty glare at Scootaloo. The two colts pounded their hooves. Rumble asked Cosgrove to get well tomorrow before flying off.

The CMC decided not to do any crusading for today. Sweetie Belle has been imposed a curfew by Rarity because of arriving back at the Boutique so late last night, and Scootaloo just wanted to sleep. Cosgrove, for just getting this close to getting a certain thrashing from Applejack, offered to help out at Sweet Apple Acres. Because of his exhaustion, he was put into watching the chickens. The sun began to set, and the Apple Family started returning to the house. Applejack however, spotted Cosgrove walking towards the barn, went inside and began to sleep on a hay bail. She wanted to wake him up to ask what happened the night before, but felt the colt has gone through so much that she decided to leave him be after giving him a blanket and a pillow.