CiderCon Chronicles

by SSCiderConOfficial

Chapter 10:Neighbors

CiderCon Chronicles

Chapter 10: Neighbors

"We are all Neighbors." -
Red Cardigan (A.K.A. Mr. Neighbor), Foal Entertainer and Educator.

The next few days slid by quietly and smoothly. Warm Welcome, Bramley, and the Changeling they had come to call P'tach settled in and got to know each other better.

Thanks to Warm Welcome's cooking, and Bramley's friendship, P'tach's recuperation sped by. Day by day he grew stronger and healthier, as did the relationship the three were beginning to share.

Bramley loved having a new friend.

Warm Welcome loved having somepony else to care for and dote on.

P'tach loved being in the company of ponies that cared about him.

As the end of their first idyllic week together drew to a close, Warm Welcome sat sipping her coffee in the quiet early morning and began to contemplate what had to come next.
The ferocity of the storm that blown through last weekend had been a blessing. In the span of a day it had dumped more rain on Hinnysee than most storms did in a week.
The roads had been all but impassable until today. She knew that soon the neighbors would "come a' callin' " to check on them.
The last thing that she wanted was one of the neighbors to have a chance meeting with P'tach and run into town to fetch Constable Even-hoof.
She wanted to be the one to introduce the changeling to everyone. She didn't want it to seem like they were hiding him, or keeping him a secret from the town. She knew he would be quiet and fearful around new ponies, and wanted to be there to speak for him so those qualities didn't make him seem sinister or secretive.

So, she decided to do what she did best : have folks over for brunch.

********************

Warm Welcome giggled out loud at the expressions on Bramley and P'tach's faces. She had informed them that tomorrow she was planning on having a brunch and inviting the most important ponies in town. Furthermore, at that brunch they would introduce P'tach all around.

They sat frozen, spoons in hooves halfway to their open mouths. They were twins in identical poses of disbelief.

Bramley was the first to speak. "Uhhhhhh..." he started, setting his spoon back onto his plate. " Are ya' sure ?" He asked, his face screwed up in an expression of worry.

P'tach realized that his spoon was also still hovering above his plate and set it down. He looked from Bramley to Warm Welcome

Warm Welcome smiled with more reassurance than she actually felt. "Ah'm sure, Bram. The townsfolk are gonna' find out about him at some point. I want to make sure that it's done the right way."
She could see the apprehension in P'tach's eyes and her heart went out to him. She knew that it was going to be hard on him to be around so many new people. The memories of his mistreatment by the general pony population were still very fresh, and wounds still raw. If all went well, she thought, this could really help to restore his faith in ponykind.

"P'tach," she said, "I'm gonna ask ya' ta' trust me. I've known these folks for most o' my life. They're good ponies. Part o' the reason Bram n' me are the way we are is cause' o' livin' in a community like this one." She gestured at the air around her.

She smiled, her words reassuring herself as much as they did P'tach.

"Besides," she continued, her surety redoubled, "they're used to welcomin' all different types for CiderCon. Treatin' strangers like neighbors is one o' the things that we pride ourselves on."

She chuckled to herself. "You're just a little stranger than most is all."

P'tach had held her gaze throughout her speech. Even now that she had finished he held it. He trusted them both. They had saved his life, taken him in, nursed him to health.

He did not, however, trust the rest of the world.

He was scared, but there was such certitude in her gaze that he found himself unable to resist it. He trusted her, and she trusted these people.

He took a leap of faith, and nodded his agreement.

********************

After breakfast, Warm Welcome had made a lists of everything that had to be done and acquired for brunch, and written out invitations to the nine ponies that would attend.

Her guest list was as follows:

- Constable Even-hoof
- Doc Gladstone
- Tough Temper (the town Blacksmith whose name referred to the durability of his goods, and not his demeanor)
- Fair Trade and Good Measure ( the husband and wife that owned the General Store)
- Miss Slate (one of Bramley's teachers that was also a quite dependable gossip)
- Twice Turned ( the seamstress)
- and their two closest neighbors, Plowshare and Green Gardens

She had carefully chosen each pony on the list, picking those that were either influential, or that talked to a lot of other ponies and were, therefore a means of disseminating the news.

She asked Bramley to take the invitations to Plowshare, Green Gardens, and Miss Slate while she handed out invitations to the others and did the shopping.

They would meet back at the house in the afternoon and start getting the back yard decorated and set.

"What would you like me to do?" Asked P'tach in his piecemeal form.

"You just stay here and rest while we're gone. " Replied Warm Welcome, laying a hoof on his shoulder. " You got a big day ahead of ya' tomorrow so ya' need to rest while ya' can." She was concerned for his health, and knew he needed his rest, but that wasn't the whole story. The rest of the story was that she didn't want him out much for fear that somepony would see him before his introduction.

The changeling was crestfallen. Helping them after all they'd done meant a lot to him. Warm Welcome saw the change in his expression, and could figure what it meant.

"Tell ya' what ", she said, putting a hoof under his chin to lift his eyes to hers, "once me n' Bram get home I'll make us some supper, then you can help us set up the tables, and help me get the kitchen ready. Deal?"

The changeling grinned "Deal."

********************

Bramley and P'tach were in bed. Bramley had fallen asleep first, tuckered out from running to deliver invitations then doing his part to set up and decorate. P'tach had lasted a little longer. He was so overjoyed to be helping that he had shrugged aside slumber for another hour or two to get the kitchen set the way Warm Welcome had needed it.

Warm Welcome was sitting in the living room, sipping steaming cider from a mug and talking quietly to her husband's picture.

"It's times like this when I miss you most. I'm as scared as can be about tomorrow. I mean, I know I'm doin' the right thing and all, "she chuckled, " but I'd sure love a second opinion.""I know that if they cn' just get over the initial shock, and see him as his own self, he cn' be a real valuable part of this community."
"Fr' instance, " she said, "while we were gettin' the backyard set up fr' brunch, I needed the long tables out of the shed. I was just tellin' him how they were too heavy to pick up by himself when FWOOSH ! He turns into a bear kinda' thing, puts one table over each shoulder, and totes em' across the yard all by himself while I just stand there with my jaw on the floor."

She smiled at the recollection.

The clock on the wall chimed softly. It was 1 am.

"Sugar n' Saltlicks, its later than I realized. I gotta get to bed if I'm gonna be worth a cuss tomorrow!"
She rose, kissed her hoof, and touched it to his picture.

Then she ascended the stairs to where sleep awaited her.

What would happen tomorrow, only time would tell.

********************