Passing Through

by Meteor_Mirage

Chapter 2

Mornings began early for the ponies of Appleloosa, most of the residents out of their homes and on their way to work just as the sun began to rise in the sky. By sunrise, most of the shops had opened, most farmers were well on their tasks, and the saloon was preparing to open later in the day for said farmers to take a rest.

By 7 AM, almost every Appleloosan was hard at work making the town function.

Except one.

Though not normally one to sleep in, Braeburn could still be found asleep in his room well into the morning. It was only at noon that the stallion even began to stir awake.

His eyes slid open slowly to see the morning light filtering in through his window. He jerked awake immediately after, shooting up to a seated position and turning to his alarm clock with no small amount of fear and confirming that the time was, indeed, in the middle of the afternoon.

Braeburn breathed a sigh that quickly became a groan, knowing that, despite everything, he would have to find a way to drag himself out of bed. And so, very unwillingly, he pulled himself out from under his comfortable blanket and forced himself into the waking world.

Before leaving his bedroom, he took a moment to visit the window. There he breathed another sigh as his unicorn workers frantically moved from tree to tree, lighting their horns and seemingly trying different spells to no avail.

“Well, l guess I better go ahead and join ‘em.” Braeburn said with a shake of his head.

After dressing himself and making his way out of his room, he took a detour to poke his head into the guest room and see how Sunburst was holding up. He mostly expected to see the unicorn still snoozing the day away and hoped to entice him with promises of breakfast and a visit to the town library.

Aaaafter the tour, of course.

Instead, what Braeburn saw was a room that was full of suitcases, but empty of cute unicorn. And even the luggage seemed to be empty aside from a few articles of clothing and general toiletries.

Tilting his head curiously, Braeburn quickly rushed downstairs to see what was up.

Rushing first to his dining room, he saw exactly what was up, and it was the same up that it usually was.

Sunburst was yet again asleep at his dining room table, but this time surrounded by even more books than before. Twenty books of varied sizes littered Braeburn’s table, all of them open and presumably being read at once before Sunburst passed out from the exhaustion of studying.

Braeburn approached Sunburst warily, part of him assuming he’d yet again eaten a Nap Apple again, but the lack of apple residue quickly convinced him otherwise.

He still watched Sunburst for a moment, watching the stallion snore gently with his head resting on a copy of Mage Meadowbrook’s treatise on sleep-based pandemics. Truly a light read.

Sunburst mumbled softly in his sleep, his horn flickering on and off as he did so.

Braeburn took a large step back, not wanting to catch a laser beam to the eye.

Sunburst’s ears flicked towards the sound of falling hoofsteps, and slowly he began to stir awake. He whipped his head up and squinted towards the source of the sound. Seeing only a yellow and brown blob set along the blue wall.

Excusing himself to quickly grab his glasses from the table, he set them on to then see Braeburn looking at him strangely.

“Oh.” Sunburst said, then quickly rubbed the sleep from his eyes with a hoof. “Good morning, Braeburn. I hope you slept well.”

“I did! Though I dunno if I slept as good as you did.” Braeburn gave a short laugh, then gestured over to Sunburst’s book fort with a hoof. “Y’all were sleepin’ so hard you were probably drooling all over that nice book of yours.”

Sunburst quickly looked down at the book to check for any water damage, then shook his head. “No, I usually have my books magically treated against liquids just in case…” He trailed off, snapping his head up to squint at Braeburn yet again. “Hold on, are you making fun of me?”

“Just pokin’ fun, not making any.” Braeburn said as he finally made his way back across the dining room, sitting down across from Sunburst with a kind smile. “So how’s all the studying going anyway? Wouldn’t blame you if you just conked out after all the fun last night.”

“Quite the contrary, honestly. I think I might have figured something out!” His attention was once again brought to the book, and he traced a hoof across the current page as he reread it for the hundredth time. “I was inspired by last night’s conversation to take a look at Mage Meadowbrook’s dealings with sleeping spells and happened upon a solution she’d used for an infected water supply.”

“Seems simple enough.” Braeburn said with a nod. “Though I’ve been ‘round the block enough to know these things ain’t ever as simple as they seem.”

“It’s an Earth Pony spell. And one by an extremely skilled Earth Pony mage.” He flipped through a few pages in his book, then sighed and looked up at Braeburn. “These things don’t usually come with a translation to Unicorn Magic, so I’ll have to make due. The other problem is that I don’t know what it’ll do to the apples.”

“I’m willing to try anything at least once. ‘Specially if it might help.” Braeburn decided after a moment.

“There is, however, a small chance that the apples will explode into poisonous gas when I cast this spell.” Sunburst said, then gestured towards the door. “Shall we?”

Braeburn gave a deep sigh. “I’ll go get the gas masks.”

While he was mostly joking about the gas masks, Braeburn still took the time to evacuate the orchard of any workers who could get in the way or be infected if things were to go wrong.

Now just the two stallions alone in the orchard, Sunburst gestured Braeburn over to the first infected tree he saw.

“Oookay, I’ll need you to work your magic and check on the infection while I cast this spell.” Sunburst said as he placed both of his hooves upon the trunk of the tree. “Let me know if things get better, and if things get worse then… I guess we’ll just be sleeping together until someone comes to find us.”

The sentence held in the air for a long moment before Sunburst’s face broke out into a blush. He turned to face away from Braeburn, clearing his throat as he did so. “Let’s, uh, just get into it.”

“Y’got it, partner.” Braeburn laughed gently, though his face reddened slightly as well. He moved in closer to Sunburst, placing a hoof on the tree right next to Sunburst’s hoof. “Ready when you are.” He said, smiling down at Sunburst.

Sunburst’s face reddened deeper still.

He lit his horn despite this, shutting his eyes tightly to force himself to focus. Instead of wrapping his aura around the tree like he normally would, he breathed an uneasy sigh as he let his magic trickle down his body and then pushed it into his forehooves. It made his entire body tingle, but his hooves felt like they were practically vibrating as golden sparks flashed off of them.

With a flash of his horn and hooves, he forced the spell into the tree. It sent a pulse through his body, making him slam his hooves upon the ground to steady himself.

“Well, it’s definitely doing something.” Braeburn looked down at Sunburst with a small frown. “Think you’ve got enough in you to give it another shot?”

“Maybe.” Sunburst shrugged, readying himself along the tree yet again. “Let’s find out together!”

Sunburst cast the spell again, slowly drawing magic from his horn through his body and out his hooves. And again.

It was as Sunburst was preparing to cast the spell a fourth time that Braeburn placed a hoof upon his shoulder to stop him. He then leaned up to grab an apple with his other hoof.

Sunburst looked on in horror as Braeburn brought the apple to his mouth, taking a massive step back and blocking his snout off with his foreleg as Braeburn moved to take a bite.

And bite Braeburn did.

To the surprise of both of the stallions, the apple did not pop and instead gave a tell-tale crunch with Braeburn’s bite. Braeburn chewed for a few moments, tilting his head curiously as he swallowed.

“It’s a bit tart, but it ain’t bad.” Braeburn decided, then shot Sunburst a big, cheesy grin.

Sunburst smiled as well, though his was far more bashful as he blushed. He wasted no time in drawing a book from his cloak, burying his face in that to distract himself. “The, uh, book says that the spell should only last for a few days, though I don’t know if the changes in casting would change that as well or not.” He peeked up above his book at Braeburn before his eyes flicked back down. “Seeing as it isn’t too intensive a spell, I could definitely teach it to your unicorns. Just in case I’m not able to provide a non-bandaid solution before I have to leave.”

Braeburn nodded along for a second before hesitating, his face falling to an uncharacteristic frown before forced back to a neutral smile. “I kinda figured y’all’d be leaving at some point, but how soon have you gotta head out?”

Sunburst thought for a moment, bringing a hoof to his chin. “I’ve been in town for two… No, three days. Sleeping off that Nap Apple really threw my timing off.” He gave a short giggle, then refocused. “I think I’m supposed to catch a train back tomorrow night. Just so I have enough time to help grade mid-terms.” A look of panic quickly crossed his face. His head jerked to look towards Braeburn’s house. “I, uh, I should probably get back to studying. I’d hate to leave you with an imperfect solution.”

Just as Sunburst moved to turn away, Braeburn placed a hoof on his shoulder to stop him. “No ya don’t!” He said with a shake of his head, sidling up to Sunburst. “Just ‘cause it ain’t perfect doesn’t mean we can’t celebrate a little. And I’d be damned if I let you leave without showing Appleloosa off a li’l bit.”

While Sunburst thought it over for a moment, the stallion to his side and hoof still on his shoulder were far more convincing than he expected. “I suppose I could… kill two birds with one stone.” He said, half mumbling as he shuddered. “What do you suggest?”

“We’ve got one heck of a good hayburger place ‘round here.” Braeburn said with a grin. “If you’re hungry, that is.”

Before Sunburst could even try to respond, his growling stomach did it for him. And as he flushed red yet again, Braeburn just laughed and pat his shoulder gently.

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

----

Now out from under the shaded cover of the orchard, Sunburst was quickly reminded just how hot Appleloosa was during the day, especially with the sun hanging so high in the sky. He didn’t even get far into the walk before he began to sweat profusely, which was especially embarrassing when he compared his discomfort to Braeburn’s unfettered stride.

Deciding against simply casting another cooling spell, wanting to save his magic for later, Sunburst simply stashed his cloak in Braeburn’s guest room, foregoing his usually clothed nature.

This was, almost immediately, proven to him to be a large mistake on his part.

The stares he was getting from the moment he entered Appleloosa proper would have made him feel exposed normally, but the lack of a cloak he could hide behind made him feel far more embarrassed than usual. It was all he could do to just smile politely at the prying eyes and give a small nod.

Braeburn, walking along suspiciously close to Sunburst, gave him a gentle nudge with his shoulder. “Don’t worry ‘bout them too much, partner. It’s not every day one’a Princess Twilight’s friends shows up to help fix a normal problem for a change.” He explained while waving at the ponies they passed. “Usually it’s magic theft, clan wars, or buckball matches.”

“Buckball?” Sunburst asked, looking towards Braeburn to keep his anxious eyes off of the crowd.

Braeburn nodded, his eyes lighting up momentarily. “Eeyup! It’s a sport that’s gotten real popular ‘round here. Y’see, each team has a pony of each race and they-”

“Oh, n-no.” Sunburst quickly cut Braeburn off with a hurried wave of his hoof. “I know what buckball is. I’ve, uh, practically heard your cousin and Rainbow Dash talking about it enough that I’ve practically memorized all of the rules.” He gave a short chirp of a laugh. “I just… wasn’t aware that it was that big in Appleloosa.”

“Shoot, and here I was sure AJ’d still be talkin’ about how she and her friends whooped our butts at the championships that one time.” He laughed, shaking his head. “‘Course, she’d also have to tell you how we beat theirs worse right the next year.”

Sunburst thought for a moment, then nodded. “I suppose that makes sense. They’ve been insistent on me joining their team ever since their unicorn moved to Vanhoover for his studies.”

“Heh, ‘s a shame. That colt might have been a few apples short of a bushel, but he was one heck of a player. It’s just so hard to get a good unicorn to play for long.” Braeburn sighed, shaking his head. He then tilted it, looking towards Sunburst curiously. “Say, if you ever wanted to play for a winning team, we’d be happy to take you on board.”

“I appreciate the offer, but I’m not exactly the sportiest stallion.” He gave a dry chuckle. “It’s easier for me to sit on the sidelines or, preferably, in a library far away from the crowds.”

“Another shame. I figure you’d look pretty cute in one of the uniforms.”

Sunburst’s face flushed red again as Braeburn gave him a gentle nudge. He opened his mouth to respond in some way, but was quickly silenced as he realized their walking had stopped at some point in the conversation, though he wasn’t sure when. Too much attention paid to his companion, perhaps.

mpanion, perhaps.

Braeburn gestured openly to the establishment they had been standing in front of. It was a rustic wooden building, painted a dark green and with a sign emblazoned “The Salt Lick” at the front. Sunburst could already hear the clamor of activity behind the swinging saloon doors, and the level of sound took him a bit aback.

This didn’t look like any restaurant Sunburst had seen before, if anything it looked like a saloon, but he wasn’t going to make waves about it. When in Cloudsdale and so on.

“Welcome to The Salt Block, Appleloosa’s premier saloon!” Braeburn chirped quite loudly.

Sunburst nodded. It looked like a saloon because it was, in fact, a saloon.

Braeburn gestured again, this time less grandly, towards the doors of the building. “Head on inside and grab us a table. Just gotta have a li’l chat with the owner real quick, and I’ll join you shortly.”

Sunburst hesitated briefly, but quickly followed orders and pressed into the establishment without any complaint.

The second Sunburst stepped into the saloon, all of the commotion he heard inside stopped. Ponies who were formerly in the middle of jovial conversations instead turned to face the newcomer, eyeing him up warily as he did so.

The sheer amount of attention that fell on specifically him made Sunburst physically recoil, pulling back and, for a moment, considering running right back out despite just how much more awkward it would make this moment.

But his fear was quelled as Braeburn entered behind him seconds later. He stood beside Sunburst and gave the patrons of the saloon a short wave, imploring them to return to their conversations and leave his Wizard alone. He then turned to Sunburst, clapping him on the shoulder with a hoof.

“Don’t let ‘em scare you, sugarcube.” Braeburn said with a gentle grin.

Though Sunburst said nothing, he gave Braeburn a thankful smile and nod of his head. He then walked off through the saloon, keeping his head low as he searched for a seat in this mostly packed establishment.

Thankfully it didn’t take that much time for him to find one despite this. After a few minutes of skulking around the saloon, dodging patrons and workers alike, he stumbled upon an empty booth tucked in the corner that was far enough from the revelry to appeal to him. He took a seat and patiently began to wait for Braeburn to find him, cherishing the fact that the seat he picked muffled the sounds around him at least a little bit.

It only took him a few minutes before he pulled out a book, this one about the intricacies of tree law, and began to nervously read to distract himself. At the slightest hint of movement, he looked up from his reading in hopes that it was Braeburn returning. Or in fear that it was someone to take his order or offer him a drink.

As the minutes ticked on, he was beginning to worry that neither would happen. That he would be forgotten in this western-themed purgatory he found himself in. Just a book to keep him company and the hopes that one day he’d be freed.

His release came sooner than he expected in the form of a smiling Braeburn. Even less expected was the tray that Braeburn carried with him, on it two of the largest hayburgers he’d seen and an absolute avalanche of potato wedges that surrounded said burgers.

Sunburst’s mouth was watering even before Braeburn set the tray down, and he set his book aside to prepare for the meal.

“Sorry ‘bout the wait.” Braeburn said as he sat down across from Sunburst. “Rye ain’t the most talkative stallion usually, but he sure is a chatterbox when it comes to this establishment here.”

“Well I hope that talks went well. Whatever they may have been.” Sunburst said to Braeburn, though his hungry eyes never left the large burgers sitting before him. His hooves twitched, but he held back the urge to just grab and start eating.

“Oh, it ain’t anything too big. Just lettin’ him know how the orchard is going.” Braeburn said. He then showed a lack of the restraint that Sunburst exhibited, popping one of the potato wedges into his mouth and sighing happily. “Mmm, with fries like these it’s hard to remember why I don’t come by too often. Feel free to dig in, I got enough for the both of us.”

Sunburst didn’t have to be told twice, immediately foregoing the wedges for the burger that had been taunting him for minutes at this point. As he picked it up in his hooves, feeling the sheer heft of the hayburger, he began to question just how he was supposed to begin eating a burger bigger than his mouth.

As he took a tentative bite, still feeling like he needed to unhinge his jaw to do it, he found himself reeling at the sheer amount of flavor that seemed to be packed into the hay of the burger. There was a sweet, somewhat tangy flavor to whatever sauce it seemed to be battered in.

“Apples?” Sunburst asked as he looked up at Braeburn, who was similarly enjoying his own burger. Though with an increased proficiency.

It took a moment for Braeburn to realize what Sunburst was asking, but he gave a small chuckle when he did. “Eeeeyup! Most all of the dishes ‘round here are premiere Apple Family apples. Just Ponyville brand, for obvious reasons.” He sighed, shaking his head with a small frown. “It’s a shame ‘cause of how much it costs to get a few hundred bushels on a train, but Rye seems happy we’ll get it covered in a week or so.”

Sunburst let out a sharp laugh at that, though he quickly shook it off apologetically. “Well, I don’t really see it taking that long. At this rate, I could see this orchard business being solved right on schedule, depending on how hard I study Ms. Meadowbrook’s work.” He pursed his lips, then looked down at the burger he’d only begun to polish off. “It’s a shame, because I could see myself coming back to this establishment. Just… maybe for a smaller meal.”

Sunburst’s eyes fell just in time to miss the frown crossing Braeburn’s face. By the time they flicked back up at Braeburn’s movement, it was back to a normal, though somewhat forced, smile again.

Braeburn shugged, giving a bit of a chuckle. “You’d be hard pressed to find anything smaller ‘round here. ‘S part of the reason I had to stop eating here so often. Started gettin’ bigger than my britches, if you get my meaning.” He then gestured towards his stomach, then a few inches outward with another laugh. “Could hardly fit in my vest after the first couple months.”

Sunburst barely managed to stifle a laugh at Braeburn’s gesturing, having to look away from the slim yet muscular stallion to prevent a full laughter breakdown.

Braeburn just grinned sheepishly in response, waving a hoof loosely. “Yeah yeah, yuk it up. But I know y’all’d be in the same way in my position. Heck, maybe even worse considerin’ how quick you polished off that burger there.”

Sunburst quickly looked down to his hooves, finding that where once there was a burger was now only empty air. He briefly wondered what had happened to his delicious meal, but quickly realized that he’d devoured it without even noticing. His face flushed, and he reached over to grab a napkin and wipe his face off.

“It’s not my fault.” Sunburst whined after finishing his cleaning. “These hayburgers are much better than anything I can get in Ponyville.” He then wasted no time in digging into the remaining potato wedges.

“Now try eating all this after getting used to Manehattan ‘cuisine’ for a few years.” Braeburn said with a deep sigh, continuing to pick at the wedges along with Sunburst. “It’s a good thing I learned to cook quick, or I’d be the size of a house by now.”

Sunburst laughed again, shaking his head. “Well if I had to pick between a burger here and a home cooked meal, especially one like yours, I’d absolutely pick the latter.”

“Well thank ya kindly.” Braeburn grinned wryly, tipping his hat in appreciation. “But if you’re all good and full, we could probably get a move on. That is, unless you wanted to stick around and drink with the crowd.”

As Braeburn gestured to the ponies sitting all around them and crowding the establishment, Sunburst’s focus on Braeburn was unfocused and he became suddenly aware of how loud the saloon had gotten while they were chatting. His ears flicked to and fro anxiously before finally deciding to fold back entirely.

“We should probably get back.” Sunburst decided quickly, already moving to stand as the sound continued to get to him. “If I’m to get all of this solved in time to make the train tomorrow, I’ll have to spend all the time I can looking for a solution.”

“Aw, you sure you wanna go back to studyin’ so soon?” Braeburn asked, mirroring Sunburst’s urge to get up and, once standing, gestured to the saloon once again. “I mean, even if you don’t wanna stick around here, there’s still a lotta Appleloosa to see! Y’all ain’t even seen our show stage yet, or we could swing by the Buckball Stadium and watch a pick-up game, or even visit the library and-”

Braeburn was quickly interrupted with a wave of Sunburst’s hoof, though once Braeburn’s attention was solely on him again he was quick to avert his gaze and stammer. “W-well, I mean, while that sounds lovely I really do need to start reading some of the books I-” He then blinked, tilting his head in thought for a moment before his eyes lit up eagerly. “Did you say library?”

“Sure did!” Braeburn said with a soft chuckle at Sunburst’s sudden change in tune. “In fact, if y’all were interested, we recently got a li’l gift from Mage Meadowbrook as apology for not bein’ available to help with the orchard. Just one of her journals she thought might help.”

“One of Mage Meadowbrook’s personal journals‽” Sunburst asked with more of an excited yell. His excitement was quickly cooled by the stares of the patrons around him, but still kept alight by Braeburn’s warm smile. Sunburst quickly cleared his throat, calming himself down before continuing. “I mean… I suppose I could maybe take a few minutes to look it over. If you think it’ll help.”

--

Hours later, both stallions emerged from the library with books in tow. Sunburst bounced with a gleeful energy as he cradled the very journal he had been promised, while Braeburn carried with him a few books on gardening and one high-fantasy romance novel that seemed a bit out of place.

Both stallions were taken aback at how the sunlight they had been expecting to greet them had faded to moonlight without them noticing.

Braeburn chuckled, scratching the back of his head with a hoof. “Whew, guess that couple’a minutes took a li’l bit longer than we expected, huh?”

“As it usually does when at a library. It’s just so easy to get lost in the books.” Sunburst said with a wide, eager grin. It did, however, falter as he looked down to the journal curiously. “Though I don’t normally expect the books to get lost from me. It’s just so strange how this little book kept going missing.”

“Eeyup, that is one heck of a mystery right there.” Braeburn said nervously, averting his gaze from Sunburst. He then drew one hoof across his chest, then rubbed it gently up and down his other foreleg. “Well dang, it sure is cold out tonight. Maybe we should turn ourselves around save ourselves from walkin’ home though this.”

Sunburst took a moment to feel the temperature, and he supposed it was quite a bit colder than it was earlier, but by no means was it cold enough to hide away from. In fact, compared to the Crystal Empire pre-Flurry, it was quite pleasant.

“As much as I’d love to stay overnight at a library with you, I don’t think your librarian would appreciate that.” Sunburst said with a soft giggle. “Either way, it’s a little bit overkill, don’t you think? I mean, it’s not the longest walk back to your home.” Not waiting for a response, he began to quickly walk back to Braeburn’s house.

“S’pose you’re right.” Braeburn said softly, rushing to follow right beside Sunburst.

He tailed Sunburst silently for a few moments, perhaps a bit too closely even, before the saloon they’d been in hours prior caught his attention out of the corner of his eye as they neared the edge of town. With a sly smirk, he picked up his pace to draw Sunburst’s attention.

“Say, we could always grab a drink before you start studying.” Braeburn suggested, stopping in front of Sunburst and gesturing towards the saloon in hopes to tempt. “It’ll probably help get you nice and relaxed. I’ll even buy a round for you!”

Sunburst blinked, then shook his head. “Oh, no, I don’t drink. All of my studying is done relatively sober. Except for, uh, a few times at Canterlot Academy.” He pursed his lips, blushing, before clearing his throat and moving on. “Eeeither way, if you’d like to drink then I won’t stop you, but I’ve really got to-”

“Ah, how’s about I take you shopping! Y’know, there’s a hat store ‘round here that sells the best cowboy hats in Equestria if you wanted a souvenir of your trip!”

The look that Sunburst gave Braeburn was a mixture of confusion and bewilderment, and it was enough to force Braeburn to trail off completely.

Sunburst waited a moment, unsure whether Braeburn was really finished or not, then shook his head. “I’m not sure if I understand. I am here to help you with the orchard, correct? I mean, I’m well known to get confused sometimes, but I believe that’s what Applejack told me before I left.”

Braeburn was quickly taken aback by the sudden line of questioning, “Well yeah, that’s what we asked Princess Twi to send someone over for, but…”

“Then why aren’t you letting me do my job?” Sunburst asked as soon as Braeburn’s sentence trailed off. “Why do you keep trying to distract me?”

Braeburn blinked, tilting his head to feign ignorance. “I can’t say I have any idea what you’re talkin’ about here. I would never-”

“Books don’t just play hide-and-seek when I’m trying to find them, Braeburn!” Sunburst said with an uncharacteristic loudness, though one that quickly faded as he shook his head. “Well, not outside of Canterlot and Ponyville anyway. But that’s beside the point.” He looked at Braeburn for a moment, then looked away with a sigh. “I think I should probably get my studying done elsewhere.”

Sunburst hesitated for a moment, but eventually managed to drag himself away from the conversation and turn around, beginning to walk his way back into town.

Braeburn moved to follow Sunburst again, reaching toward him with a hoof. “Sunburst, I-”

His advance was quickly stopped by Sunburst turning to look behind him, not with an expression of malice or anger, but sheer disappointment and sadness. “Alone, Braeburn. Please.”

And as Sunburst returned to his walk, Braeburn stood silently at the edge of town. For as much as he wanted to follow his wizardly companion, he simply began his lonely walk to his house. His head low and his ears tucked back with shame.

Comments

[Bicyclette]

His eyes slid open slowly to see the morning light filtering in through his window. He jerked awake immediately after, shooting up to a seated position and turning to his alarm clock with no small amount of fear and confirming that the time was, indeed, in the middle of the afternoon.

oof, too relatable of a fear!

Instead, what Braeburn saw was a room that was full of suitcases, but empty of cute unicorn.

yes Sunburst is a cute unicorn yessssss

Sunburst’s ears flicked towards the sound of falling hoofsteps, and slowly he began to stir awake. He whipped his head up and squinted towards the source of the sound. Seeing only a yellow and brown blob set along the blue wall.

Excusing himself to quickly grab his glasses from the table, he set them on to then see Braeburn looking at him strangely.

classic glasses-wearer moment!

Sunburst quickly looked down at the book to check for any water damage, then shook his head. “No, I usually have my books magically treated against liquids just in case…” He trailed off, snapping his head up to squint at Braeburn yet again. “Hold on, are you making fun of me?”

hehehe, loving their exchanges

“There is, however, a small chance that the apples will explode into poisonous gas when I cast this spell.” Sunburst said, then gestured towards the door. “Shall we?”

Braeburn gave a deep sigh. “I’ll go get the gas masks.”

love how in-stride ponies take these things

“Seeing as it isn’t too intensive a spell, I could definitely teach it to your unicorns. Just in case I’m not able to provide a non-bandaid solution before I have to leave.”

this unicorn solutions!

The stares he was getting from the moment he entered Appleloosa proper would have made him feel exposed normally, but the lack of a cloak he could hide behind made him feel far more embarrassed than usual. It was all he could do to just smile politely at the prying eyes and give a small nod.

the staring is relatable! whenever i see Sunburst without his cloak, i can only see him as starkly naked

“Heh, ‘s a shame. That colt might have been a few apples short of a bushel, but he was one heck of a player. It’s just so hard to get a good unicorn to play for long.”

oh, Snails is in this?

“Another shame. I figure you’d look pretty cute in one of the uniforms.”

dang Braeburn, save some smoothness for the rest of us!

The second Sunburst stepped into the saloon, all of the commotion he heard inside stopped. Ponies who were formerly in the middle of jovial conversations instead turned to face the newcomer, eyeing him up warily as he did so.

ah, the local bar trope, love it

“Don’t let ‘em scare you, sugarcube.” Braeburn said with a gentle grin.

that word is effortlessly charming no matter which Apple Family member says it!

It only took him a few minutes before he pulled out a book, this one about the intricacies of tree law, and began to nervously read to distract himself.

love it. love tree law

His release came sooner than he expected in the form of a smiling Braeburn. Even less expected was the tray that Braeburn carried with him, on it two of the largest hayburgers he’d seen and an absolute avalanche of potato wedges that surrounded said burgers.

im waiting on dinnertime right now and ugh i want this

“Apples?” Sunburst asked as he looked up at Braeburn, who was similarly enjoying his own burger. Though with an increased proficiency.

ooh, applesauce on burgers? interesting!

His ears flicked to and fro anxiously before finally deciding to fold back entirely.

augh, love this adorable bit of equine body language

“W-well, I mean, while that sounds lovely I really do need to start reading some of the books I-” He then blinked, tilting his head in thought for a moment before his eyes lit up eagerly. “Did you say library?”

haha, nerd!

His advance was quickly stopped by Sunburst turning to look behind him, not with an expression of malice or anger, but sheer disappointment and sadness. “Alone, Braeburn. Please.”

And as Sunburst returned to his walk, Braeburn stood silently at the edge of town. For as much as he wanted to follow his wizardly companion, he simply began his lonely walk to his house. His head low and his ears tucked back with shame.

oof, watching it all collapse in this conversation was painful to watch. i would have been blindsided too, in Braeburn's place. oof!