Ghost of the Everfree

by David Silver

21 - Write a Book

The next day was greeted not by a quiet reflection of things or a timid peek to make sure all was safe. No, it was a day for screaming, at least to start. Dry Whisper danced with wide panicked eyes, yelping with newfound horror.

"What is it?!" The door slammed open, revealing Apple Bloom with a worried expression. "Ya hurt?"

"Yes!" Dry rushed up to her with a mincing step. "But this, um... This is not a filly thing."

"Not a filly thing." She raised a brow, unsure what counted as 'not a filly' in nature. "You... wanna talk to mah brother? He ain't no filly."

Brother! "Yes, please! Sorry..." He shrank on himself, though his posture was odd, like he was avoiding some hurting thing on his lower belly with tears welling in his eyes. Whatever was happening, it had driven him quite to distraction and sorrow.

Was he hurting? Apple Bloom couldn't be sure. "Ya need anythin' aside that? Ah'm here for ya." She looked him over again. "Ya didn't change again." Just a floofy mane! The rest of him was Everglow-made, so far she could see. That he broke into fresh sobs implied that maybe she was wrong? "I'll... go fetch him." And she slipped out, leaving the colt to his sorrow.

"Big Mac!" she hollered as she dashed through the apple trees. He wasn't hard to find, being as big and red as he was against the browns of the bark of the trees he was in the middle of. "There ya are."

"Hm?" He turned towards her. "Ayup."

Apple Bloom grinned up at her brother of few words. "Ya remember Dry Whisper?" She pointed towards the club house frantically.

"Ayup?" He inclined his head at the clubhouse, looking back to Apple Bloom.

"He's got a 'not filly' problem, whatever that means. Can ya talk to him, stallion to stallion? He's real upset, whatever it is." Apple Bloom shrugged mightily, not understand what even could be wrong.

"Huh." And off Big Mac went to deal with the problem with his heavy and sure steps. Apple Bloom didn't follow him, which was just as well if it was something that needed to be talked about stallion to stallion. He ascended the ramp and knocked on the little door. It was made for colts, which he wasn't one of.

A little sniffle could be heard from inside, but the door cracked open. A little Everglow pony eye peeked up at him. "Oh, thank you." He backed up quickly.

Big Mac nosed his way in, slipping inside the small space and nudging the door shut behind himself with a raised hind hoof. "Ayup."

"It's awful!" He turned to show off his smooth lower belly. There was nothing there to be worried about at a glance. Just pony. "Look!"

Big Mac inclined his head real slow-like. There was nothing wrong... that he could see, oh. Oh! Oh. It hit him. Everglow stallions were a bit more showy than Equestrian ones. He gathered the colt in closer. "It's alright." Explaining the birds and the bees to a colt wasn't what he imagined the day being, but... "Ah'll help." It meant he'd have to talk more than usual, but he wasn't going to leave Dry Whisper a mess like that.

---

Apple Bloom hurried towards Big Mac when he descended the ramp. "Is he alright?!"

"Ayup." He nodded gently at his little sister, plodding past her back to work. That was it, the whole of the explanation given to her.

Fortunately, she was used to him, and happy. If he said everything was fine, then it was. She scampered up to gather the hopefully recovered colt and get him off to school.

Getting him to school was surprisingly easy. "All better?"

He was walking alongside her, saddlebags jingling with their contents. "I think so... Sorry for shouting at you."

"Ya weren't shouting at me," assured Apple Bloom with a smile. "Ya were just shouting, an' ah just happened to be in the area. Not hurt, ah hope?"

"Not hurt." His voice was a bit small when he said that. "Just surprised... Your brother is very nice. Tell him I said thank you." He rubbed behind his head through his fluffy mane. "I was too upset to say it properly..."

"Ah'll do that." She hopped ahead of him, tail wagging eagerly. "Just glad yer feelin' alright!"

At school, he was quick to hurry inside, or try to. Silver Spoon cut him off. "Hey there!"

"Hi..." He backed up a step. "I... have a lot on my mind. I wanted to write it down."

Silver blinked at that. "Oh... Well, Luminace wouldn't want me to get in the way of a friend writing things." She waved the way. "But if you want any help, I'm right here." She smiled until he was vanished out of sight. "Darn it..."

Diamond snickered softly. "Just because he likes your book god doesn't mean he's all yours, Silver."

Inside, he had a new notebook, and he was busily scratching in it even if the teacher was not giving a lesson. Class wasn't in session, but he had a lot to write about anyway. "Forgot to your homework?" Sweetie belle slid into the seat neat to him, watching him work a moment. "Did we have homework yesterday." She looked lost in thought a moment, it it clicked. "Nope! I try to get that done." A big smile, though she could see he was still very distracted. "You alright? This is quite unusual for you."

Apple Bloom hopped up next to Sweetie. "He had some kinda 'not filly' problem."

"Oh." One could almost see the gears turning in her head. What was a problem that, specifically, did not involve fillies. "So... a colt problem?"

"Whatcha talkin' 'bout?" Scootaloo hopped up on the other side of Dry, but was happy to speak loudly to her friends. "Wow, look at him go!" She was watching him write so intently. "Did I forget an assignment?"

"Nope!" chimed Sweetie, looking pleased with herself. "But he really is distracted today..."

The teacher sat behind her desk. "Class is about to start," she warned in a friendly tone.

That was enough. Dry put his notebook away and got out his school book instead, as if whatever he had been working on could wait. He sat at attention, as if whatever Cheerilee was about to say was the most important thing.

Not that Cheerilee was complaining about an attentive student. The bell called those not yet inside to get inside. "Today, we're going over bird migrations! They don't just go away, or go randomly, when the seasons are changed. It's important that the pegasi help them get to where they need to be." And she began explaining the art of figuring out where each bird had to be at each time of year.

Sure, it was mostly a pegasus class, but they had some of those, and Cheerilee was ready to teach it.

And there was a raised hoof. "Dry?" Cheerilee was looking at their newest student. "You have a question?"

"What do the birds do where are no pegasi to tell them where to go?" He was twirlling and half-chewing on the pencil in his mouth. "They aren't everywhere, right?"

"No they are not." Cheerilee nodded. "What I am explaining assumes one is around, but you are entirely correct." She flipped her blackboard to review new figures. "When a pegasus isn't around to lend a wing, birds have to figure it out on their own. Many are very very good at it. Watching their migrations is one of the best hints to figure out what assistance to lend when we arrive in an area."

A lanky pegasus colt waved a hoof excitedly. "Miss Cheerilee! Bird watching is a very popular pegasus sport."

"And for good reason." Cheerilee nodded as she drew a pegasus with binoculars up for all to see. "In the old days, only by watching could they learn where each bird wanted to be. It became something of a competition to spot the most birds going and doing various things. In fact, it was so popular other kinds of ponies picked up on it." She drew two other kinds of ponies, one with a horn, one lacking horns or a wing, each in a bush with binoculars. "And they share the sightings and information they make, so we can help our bird friends the best."

Feather Weight clopped his hooves, looking quite proud of his question.

"You do that?" Dry was looking at Feather Weight with obvious fascination.

Cheerilee coughed, interrupting Dry's question. "You can ask about that after class. Now then..." The lesson would continue, with no room allowed for off topic wanderings.

The moment class was over though, Dry zipped in front of Feather Weight. "Hello! Do you watch birds?"

"I take pictures of them sometimes." Feather drew his camera free of the school locker. "With this."

"You have one too!" Dry was clopping with joy. "Fluttershy lets me borrow hers, and I like it a lot."

Feather's guarded expression eased with the news. "Oh, a fellow photographer? What do you like taking pictures of?"

"My favorite is ponies." He pointed to Silver. He hadn't meant to, but she was coming closer, quickly. "Oh, there's one..."

Silver thumped him on the chest. "I hear you were super distracted today. What's wrong, and why didn't you tell me? Like, that's what friends are for."

Feather shied around the two. "I'll see you later!" And he was gone, lest he be involved in the scorn of a filly.

"It's a... It's hard to explain." He backed away from his irate friend. "I didn't want to hurt you. I just had to write it down."

"Can I, like, read it then?" She leaned in, smiling in a way that did little to calm Dry. "Writing is for reading, isn't it?"

"I guess..." He squirmed at the thought of it. "This is... more of a colt thing than a filly thing. No offense!"

Silver rolled her eyes dramatically. "What can-- Ow!" She was grabbed by the ear in Diamond's mouth, being pulled away. "Leggo!"

Diamond dragged her friend free of the school building. "You're making yourself look super awkward."

"Me?!" Silver backed away from Diamond as soon as her ear was released. "He's the one avoiding the subject. I'd share what I wrote with him."

Diamond leaned in close. "Not if it involved your--" She whispered something in her stinging ear, replacing that sting with a bright blush.

"Oh..."

"Yeah, oh." Diamond rolled her eyes as she turned away. "Want to go home before you finish burying yourself?"

"Okay," she mumbled, following after Diamond with a mortified look.

Dry didn't get to ask about the holy symbol at all that day. Probably just as well, as he wasn't in the mood just that second. But Feather Weight had fled before he could be interrogated. "Aw..."

"You alright?" Sweetie was back with a bright smile. "Sorry about that."

"Yeah." Apple Bloom was there too, as was Scootaloo. "Pretty sure Diamond will set her straight. Ya don't have to tell us nothin'. Ya talked ta my brother, and ah'm sure ya got it all sorted."

"I'm still curious." Scootaloo pointed to herself. "But you dont have to say anything. Pfft, what kind of friend would that be?" She laughed perhaps not entirely convincingly. "You heading back to the club house?"

Apple Bloom hiked a brow at Scootaloo. "Where else would he go? Unless we get a house for him, that's the only place... the only option he has!"

Scootaloo raised a hoof in an eager wag. "My house has an empty room." All of them looked to her. "What? My aunts only use one room, and I use one room." She counted with her hooves as she counted. "Whole other bedroom just being used for storage! I'll ask them!" She was bouncing with readiness. "If you want?"

Eye turned off Scootaloo to Dry Whisper.

Author's Note:

Dry has colt issues, but the Scootaloo!

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Comments

[Booster Spice]

I wonder how many stay over freinds have ended up in a pop up tent in the garage?

[howard035]

Loving the Silver Dry interaction. It would be cool to see the author's take on Casa de Loo.