Birds Of A Feather

by DWhay

Even More Friendly Advice

Pip sat alone in the living room, the black leather couch warming his side as he pondered his next adventure, wondering what he could do since the whole hotel was on lockdown. Nopony could get in or out due to security and other measures that their teacher had put in place to avoid a potential lawsuit. Although his door was locked and he had a whole hotel suite to goof off in, the colt couldn't help but feel sort of hollow inside. He didn't want to acknowledge that the feeling was loneliness or that he was repressing his feelings, so he did what most Brits did when they felt down or just needed to have some peace and calm.

He made some tea.

He marched into the kitchen and scowled at the tall counters, irritated that the place wasn't more suited to one of his stature. Next the clever colt found a box in the closet and stood up on it, teetering and wobbling to try and keep his balance. He managed to time his leap perfectly and make it onto the countertop, allowing him to feel quite clever as he opened the cupboard. That feeling of being clever faded fast when he discovered that there was everything in this suite... but tea.

There was no tea.

Pipsqueak's eyes teared up at the thought. He'd been taught that tea was a near necessity to life, if you felt stressed, you drank a cup of tea. If you were feeling sick, drink a cup of green tea. If you were going to make an important decision, than make some tea. Tea was the fulcrum on which your diet turned and if there was not tea then you may as well starve. So Pip slouched down on the couch a few minutes later, devastated and outraged. How could a hotel not have any bloody tea?!

---

Apple Bloom whistled nonchalantly out on the deck of the balcony. It hadn't been all that difficult for the agile filly to sneak into Diamond Tiara's and Silver Spoon's suite, even less for her to pick the lock on their door and tiptoe past the sleeping fillies. She wasn't one to mess around and she was going to head right to the pony that was the most connected, the most rumor-savvy, gossip dwelling filly she knew. Her worst enemy, one that she seemed to suddenly share a sort of bond with. She hated Pip, and Featherweight wasn't on her good list either, and she most definitely wasn't going to tolerate what she'd been raised to hate. Granny Smith had taught her to hate and hate she would.

She was going to wait until Diamond woke up, then she would sneak in and tell her to spread a nasty rumor about Pip, then she would sit back and watch the magic happen as Pip was bullied and scorned until he begged for mercy. She could picture it, him having stones and pebbles thrown at him and Featherweight by him, both together in misery. She would call it a stalemate whenever he openly admitted to her that he would repent his ways. The filly couldn't deal with the strange or the different, so she would settle for suppressing and containing what she hated in typical Apple Family fashion.

It wasn't that she was evil, it was just what she'd been taught. Granny Smith had told her that it was wrong and therefore, being just a small child, she decided it was true. It wasn't that she thought about what she was doing, she was just doing what she was told and not questioning it. In no way was Apple Bloom an awful pony, it was just that she was being misled by the morals and norms of a different generation, a far less tolerant one.

She heard a rustling in the bed and a muffled voice; the filly crept into the suite and couldn't believe her eyes. The pony she believed to be her one partner in her fascist belief was snuggling her friend in the most adorable fashion imaginable. The junior farmhand twitched as she watched Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon with their hooves around each other, smiling in their sleep.

The farmhand didn't even say a word, but left as quietly as she'd came... planning out another way to somehow punish Pip and Featherweight.

---

Pip walked downstairs, bandanna around his neck. He was going to get some tea from the main lobby, the mineral water that was in the fridges was awful. The Cockney accented colt wasn't happy, and the sight of Apple Bloom didn't brighten his mood. She stormed down the hallway, her bow off and a large, rather sophisticated knot where it used to lay. She looked like she was ready to punch somepony, and he didn't want to get in her way. He was catching onto her rather strong opinions, and the colt didn't want to be right in her line of fire when she decided to tell him about them.

He dodged into a room he didn't know, the door wasn't open but he wasn't supposed to be out in the halls that late and neither was she. So he closed the door, looking around. It only took him a few moments to realize that it was Diamond and Silver's suite. Pip tried to hold his unsteady breathe, if either Apple Bloom or the sleeping twins noticed him he was in very big trouble. So the colt held absolutely still in the dark, trying to keep his heavy breathing and shaking knees under control.

He heard Apple Bloom pass and continue down the hall, much to his relief. He was about to leave the room without looking around, but then he saw the one thing that he didn't expect from two very rich fillies. The two, in bed together, innocent and peaceful, snuggled up and hooves around each other's back. It was downright adorable. Just then he realized that him and Featherweight weren't the only ones that were keeping their feelings hidden and suppressed. They were as well. He knew what would happen in the morning, too. They would wake up, give each other awkward glances, blush, then get out of bed and never talk about it again. For some reason... Pip just knew.

The colt left the room, trying to fit this new discovery into his little bubble of denial. The barrier keeping his inner feelings down was breaking, and he didn't know how to handle the mix of emotions raging for attention in his head. For some reason he felt a new link between him and the rich fillies. It wasn't that he wanted to be friends, but there was a thread of compassion between them now. Maybe in the morning before they left for the play he could tell them about his plight and see if they could help him.

Pip later found that the hotel restaurant only had coffee, and that he was going to have to either drink that or the awful city tapwater. He groaned and sipped a decaf mocha for about an hour, grumbling his feelings into the overly large cup. He didn't understand why they had made the cup so big, until the waiter came over.It was from a friend.

"Well hey, sonny. How're you on this fine evenin'?"

Pip looked up to see a tall stallion over him, none other than Caramel himself. He stood tall in a rather fanciful suit, a bowtie and a undercoat looked good on the stallion, and the neatly combed mane was enough to make Pip question why he was there. The smartly dressed stallion smiled at him warmly, taking a seat across from the misunderstood Brit.

"What're you doing here, Caramel? I thought that you went to Apploosa after that... er, incident when Apple Bloom burned down your house."

The stallion chuckled. "I'm not really suited for life out there. Too rough and tumble for me. I'm more a baker at heart. So I came here. It's slow at night so I take my break and wait the tables."

"You work here?"

"Better, I live here. Second floor, the room right to the left of suite 2."

The English-colt didn't have to do a lot of thinking to figure out Caramel lived right next to him, and that Caramel was a self-admitted colt-cuddler. It also didn't take long for the question that had plagued him since he'd met his best friend to come to the front of his mind.

"Hey Caramel... I want to ask you somethin' pretty personal... is that okay?"

"Well sure little buddy, what's the matter?"

"I... I have these... feelings, and... they're for... this other colt. It's... my friend and he's about my age. I think that he doesn't know what to do, and I don't either. We're both too scared to say anythin'."

Caramel paused, thinking. His brow furrowed as he concentrated. "I think that you should just tell him in the most subtle way. Slip it to him in a way that he would only recognize if he had these feelin's too."

"Well how am I supposed to do that?" Pip asked. "I mean, I would have to plan everything and-"

"If you'd let me finish."

Pip looked down into his cup. "Sorry."

"Or, you could just come out to him. Take the leap. It's what I wanted to do with Macintosh... but her sister figured it out and, well, you know what happened. I reckon that you're over-thinking this. Don't think, just feel. What you feel is worth more than anypony else's opinion. If you feel that way, tell him so. Don't make yourself feel bad, just do it and if he doesn't, then no harm done. Understand?"

The socially awkward colt smiled and nodded, glad to have some advice from somepony that understood.

"Thanks a lot, Caramel."

---

Authors Note: I'm really, really sorry this chapter isn't all that great, but there's a lot going on. I apologize from the bottom of my heart, I wish that I could bring his story more justice than this. It deserves better than me....

Comments

[Crystallize]

Nonsense, you're doing this story great justice. The pacing is good, the feelings and emotions are believable, and you update regularly enough. Keep up the good work my man.

[Dusty Sage]

As Caramel might say, you might be overthinking this a bit.

You've made an excellent start. Give the characters a chance to move it forward for you.

[The Dragon Warlock]

Why is Applebloom such a b**ch in this story? I want to see her firmly get slapped in the face if she does something like what she plans to do.

[Chii]

There's nothing wrong with the chapter itself, though your characterization of Apple Bloom feels insanely out of character. There's a big difference between being taught to hate something, and then using that to go out and make an elaborate plan to cause them to suffer.

[ElektroNeko]

...You kinda don't seem to like Apple Bloom and Applejack am I right?

Seriously though: Try to "tweak your Apple Bloom" a bit. The lockpick is very out of character, and not necessary to make your point.

[DWhay]

773408 Allow me to answer both of you in one fell swoop. In the next chapter the reasons behind Apple Bloom's homophobia are explained. Not only that but if any of you think about dropping this story solely because of Apple Bloom than you're going to miss out on the part were she is cured of her hate

773553 As for that lockpicking thing, you'll figure out that AB could never have picked the lock on a door, a friend did that so she could witness some filly-fooling and prove a point Guess Who?

[ElektroNeko]

774218

No, I'm not dropping out of it. As a matter of fact, I really like this story ;3

But then, I can't really figure out who would have picked the lock otherwise...

[FlutteringShy]

774218

I think the formatting might need a teensy change during Appleblooms tirade, about the hate and whatnot.
I just cannot see Apple Bloom acknowledging "Granny Smith had taught her to hate, and hate she would.". I'm not sure how else it could be put, but openly acknowledging the hate she was raised with? Doesn't fit well, with either Apple Bloom or with homophobes in general (In my experience.)

Although that might've just been me misinterpreting that as Apple Blooms thoughts

[Slesh]

Applebloom's a BITCH!

[Dark Chiami]

Apart from Appleboom being a bit OOC, this chapter was great, can't wait for more

[ex33]

Bucking homophobic apples... wow. Thats not something you'd hear in any other fandom.

Anyways...

As expected, apple bloom is making me very sad,
:( <--- me
but I find the fact that she just keeps running into more couples while looking for a "partner in crime" is quite hilarious.

One suggestion:

While I'm usually a FlutterDash man, throwing in some AppleDash would be the ultimate insult to Apple Bloom and would be quite awesome indeed.

I really love the story and eagerly await future installments!

[DWhay]

779320 Won't have to wait long, good sir. Another should be here in an hour or two.

Edit: In 3... 2... 1.... Go.