Autumn - Part 3
Briar Patch lay concealed in a bush near the home of Derpy Hooves, watching the building with rapt interest. He glanced skyward, taking note of the position of the sun, before looking back at the squat structure nestled inside the forest clearing.
It had been several days since he met Dinky, and he'd been back every day to see her since then. He would talk to her for several minutes, then make himself scarce before incurring her protective mother's wrath.
Every day, he had been asking Dinky about her mother, how she'd been, what she knew of where Derpy had come from, and what she thought the best way to approach her mother would be. She seemed to think the entire situation was a big game of hide-and-seek, and eventually, Derpy would catch him. Perhaps it was; perhaps he wanted to be caught.
Yesterday, he'd finally worked up the courage to ask her what her plans were for the Running of the Leaves; it was less than a week away, so there wasn't much time left for Dinky's mother to sign up. Dinky told him, “Mommy says she'll be going. She went last year, too.”
Briar Patch thought about that for a moment. It had been autumn when Derpy left Canterlot, and it had been almost a year since he had gotten to see her. She must have arrived in Ponyville shortly before the Running of the Leaves last year.
This was his chance to talk to her. He wasn't going to get a shot like this for a while.
Several minutes later, Dinky trotted cautiously out of the house. She made a show of looking around, then trotted over to a ball and kicked it. This was very bizarre behavior for her. Normally, she would have made a beeline for the edge of the forest; Briar hid in different bushes each time, in case Derpy tried to catch him, so Dinky would wait for him to say something to her after she'd come close.
As it was, he'd seen Derpy in the house, so he felt comfortable saying something. “Psst, Dinky!”
The sound echoed through the yard, despite Briar's attempts to say it only just loudly enough for her to hear. Dinky tossed her head agitatedly; something was obviously bothering her.
Clearing his throat, Briar said a bit more loudly, “What's wrong?”
A voice spoke from behind him. “I've caught you. That's what.”
Briar Patch immediately recognized the voice, knowing in the same instant what she was about to do. As he turned to look at her, Derpy's hooves crashed painfully into his side and knocked him to the ground. The grey pegasus gave a powerful beat of her wings, landing atop him and pinning his hooves to the ground.
Briar Patch's eyes met with Derpy's, one of them boring directly into his while the other seemed to stare at his cheek. “What have you been talking to my daughter about, fillynapper!?”
From nearby, Dinky let out a cry. “Don't hurt Bramble, Mommy! He's a good pony!”
Derpy's pin on Briar Patch softened ever so slightly. “Speak for yourself. Why are you talking to my daughter?”
At that moment, a flicker of recognition crossed Derpy's features, and her eyes began to widen.
Not here... not now. Briar Patch rolled as hard as he could to one side, Derpy's hooves suddenly trying to find purchase on a pony that was moving. She scrambled and fell on top of him, the scent of muffins wafting over Briar as he attempted to scramble out from under the grey pegasus. He succeeded, immediately putting ground between himself and the swiftly recovering Derpy. He twisted his head over his shoulder for a moment, his eyes meeting hers once more before disappearing into the brush.
Derpy didn't attempt to give chase. She sat in the dirt for several long moments, stunned at what had just happened. Eventually she mumbled to herself, “... Briar?”
The next day, and for several days thereafter, Briar Patch didn't leave his home. He didn't even try to pretend why he couldn't leave; despite his wanting to see Derpy, he just couldn't pluck up the courage to see her again after all this time. Not with the way he felt about her.
Things were very different now than the first time he'd met her. The first time he ever saw Derpy, the thought of being friends with a mare he liked was nowhere near the forefront of his mind; he didn't talk to ponies much, and when he did, making friends wasn't his interest.
Rather, Briar Patch's focus at the time was defending a pony that he saw being tormented. Never in all his life had he thought not to defend the weak and helpless in their moment of need, and that had been no exception. It had given Derpy a chance to talk to him first, and he simply let things happen.
A lot can change in a year, though. Things felt different. He felt like he didn't know the mare he'd seen today, even if she recognized him.
He felt like a different pony.
Was he a different pony? He was close friends with Derpy, and he may have felt this way about her before... and maybe she'd felt the same way. Neither of them knew it at the time; both of them knew now. That's why he knew he couldn't talk to her like he had before.
Glumly, he approached his window and looked out at the cold autumn afternoon. School had just ended for the foals, and they were all rushing home to where the bitter, biting day could no longer reach them. They were from several varied ages and groups, and he felt an offhanded interest in who each of these colts' and fillies' parents were.
Eventually, his eyes picked out a pair of ponies, one a tiny purplish-grey unicorn, the other a full-grown grey pegasus. The pegasus had a scarf wrapped about her neck, a smaller one clamped in her mouth as she attempted to encase the unicorn filly's neck in the warm wrapping. Briar smiled brightly, knowing how silly he would look if anypony could see him. He was easily entertained.
With Dinky snugly scarfed, the pair cantered past Briar's house. He realized they may spot him watching from his window, so he moved to the side and poked his eyes around the windowsill to continue seeing the mare of his dreams.
As the two of them were about to disappear around the corner, Briar watched as Derpy's wing draped over a shivering Dinky, pulling her close for warmth. He involuntarily collapsed upon the floor immediately afterward.
He hoped somewhere, someday, he would have a colt or a filly of his very own to care for and protect.
Perhaps, at the Running of the Leaves, he would get to adopt one, along with finding the mare he loved.
Briar Patch awoke, glancing first at his clock, then at his calendar. The day had arrived.
He rose, putting on a well-fitted winter hat that covered everything down to his eyes and mentally preparing himself for the marathon he was going to be participating in today. It wasn't every day that a stallion got to confess his love for a mare for the first time.
Upon trotting out the door, Briar made for the edge of Whitetail Wood, where he was told the marathon would begin. As he neared the site, he began to see more and more ponies, eventually blending in with the crowd that was watching the marathon.
He stopped just short of emerging from the crowd to the area where the other runners were currently stretching. Hovering at the edges, he watched as Derpy Hooves began windmilling each of her front hooves about in turn, the second one coming to a sudden stop as she clocked a pony in the jaw, stammering a hurried apology before focusing on her forelegs, preparing to stretch them as well.
Maintaining as much stealth as possible, Briar Patch arrived at the registration table, signed in, and got his racing number, pasting it upon his flank: 13. Derpy had already gotten the number 8. He looked around briefly, looking for a place to hide within the crowd until more racers had arrived.
After 30 or so racers had shown up, Briar Patch felt comfortable moving among them, confident in his ability to stay unnoticed by Derpy. He moved out of the slowly growing crowd and into the preparation area, where Derpy was still stretching, and began going through some small warm-ups himself. It was a little more cramped now, but there was still enough room for him to perform his stretches.
After several minutes, a horn sounded, and 50 ponies assembled at the starting line. Briar Patch kicked his hooves against the ground, preparing for the gallop ahead.
“Fillies and gentlecolts, welcome to the annual Running of the Leaves! This is Pinkie Pie, your announcer for the event and host of the Running of the Leaves After Party at Sugarcube Corner!” Briar Patch glanced to the side, where Pinkie Pie was standing with a microphone. “Now, I know you all want to finish this race quickly so you can have some sweets, and that's perfectly fine! Go as fast as you want! And now, without further ado, 3... 2... GO!”
There was a little confusion from the assembled ponies, several of them glancing at one another to verify they'd all noticed the omission of a 1. “Hey, what gives? Do you not feel like racing anymore?” The crowd gave an awkward glance to Pinkie Pie before they began to pick up their pace, taking up a brisk trot, then progressing to a steady gallop.
Briar Patch opted to stay at the back of the crowd, attempting to locate Derpy. After a minute or so into the race, he spotted her weaving erratically in the crowd, bumping into ponies fairly often, her mouth moving as he imagined her giving apologies for every pony jostled.
Briar grinned to himself as he witnessed the beautiful mare galloping ahead of him. Just a little courage....
Slowly building up his resolve, Briar maintained his gallop and prepared to quicken it slightly so as to catch up to Derpy.
Up ahead, he heard a pony yelling. “That's the fourth time! Either move away or don't race at all!”
He attempted to locate the angry stallion, eventually finding him glaring at Derpy. The grey pegasus was once again trying to stammer an apology.
“Apologies don't cut it! Watch where you're going!”
Derpy slowed her pace, but the irritated unicorn matched it and began dropping behind with her. Briar Patch slowed his pace accordingly.
Now that he had a good look at the stallion, Briar Patch attempted to identify him. He was a blue unicorn stallion with a whitish-grey mane and matching short tail. His cutie mark was a light bulb.
With most of the crowd having passed by, Briar could hear what was going on. The stallion continued his tirade. “What makes you think you should be in a marathon, anyway? You can't even gallop straight!”
Derpy attempted to offer another apology of, “I-I'm, sorry, Bright Idea, it won't—” before being cut off again.
“No, I'm tired of this! I told you three times! Three times! And still you're doing it! What is wrong with you? Why do you go to these things if all you're going to do is make ponies around you miserable?”
“I-I—”
“That's enough.” Briar Patch spoke clearly over the receding din of pounding hooves. “Go be a bully to innocent ponies someplace else.”
“And who the hoof is this? A friend of yours?” Bright Idea gave Derpy an incredulous look before turning back to Briar. “Look, just tell her to stop participating in things that only make her bother other ponies and things won't end up like this. How about you—”
“I'm not taking suggestions from you.” He drew himself up to his full height to confront his aggressor. “She'll keep running whether you want her to or not, and she'll enjoy it. You're the one bothering other ponies, not her.”
In retrospect, he knew he shouldn't have said something like that. He knew that Bright Idea was already angry, and insulting him would only make him angrier. A vein popped out on the angry unicorn's forehead, and he gave a hostile snort. “You gonna do somethin' about it?”
Briar Patch smiled confidently. “Yeah, I think I am.”
Bright Idea gave a shout and lunged at Briar Patch.
Despite his boldness, Briar Patch knew he was no fighter. He was used to being a punching bag by now, but better he take the beating and stop Bright Idea from picking on Derpy than to pretend he didn't see what was going on.
He still put up a valiant effort, however. As Bright Idea neared him, he reached for Briar Patch, who bit his attacker on the leg. Bright Idea yelped in pain, pulling the injured hoof back and swinging the other to hit Briar Patch on the cheek.
His face left wide open, and his reaction time terrible, Briar Patch took the full force of the hit. Immediately, he felt his nose start burning with pain, then a drop of blood landed on the ground, followed quickly by another.
Laughing, he stood back on his hooves, brashly taunting Bright Idea. “That the best you got, tough guy? C'mon, my mama spanked me harder!”
A small look of bewilderment crossed Bright Idea's face. Briar Patch realized that this stallion didn't know what a spanking was. He began to stifle a laugh, then decided it would irritate his aggressor more to do so, letting a baleful guffaw escape from his lungs.
Bright Idea, taking this as an invitation for more brawling, circled in to attack.
Briar knew this, so he turned around and attempted to buck Bright Idea in the jaw, but the unicorn saw it coming from a mile away, sidestepped, and delivered a buck of his own to Briar Patch's ribs.
Briar Patch collapsed on the ground, coughing and wheezing, the blood from his nose still running in rivulets down his face.
Bright Idea snorted derisively. “Maybe watch your mouth around me next time, foal.” He galloped off to catch up with the stampede that had left him behind.
Briar Patch took a few more seconds to catch his breath, then rolled over onto his back. No matter how many times he got beat up, it still hurt just as much.
And it was still just as worth it.
From his side, he heard Derpy speak. “Oh, Briar Patch! What did you do that for?”
He laughed a little, then coughed. His ribs hurt. “I needed to save you, silly filly.”
“But I'm used to it!” She sounded indignant. “They make fun of me all the time! I don't let it bother me or anything!”
“I'm used to it too. You don't have to take insults like that, Derpy. You're more beautiful than any mare they may have eyes on.”
There was a stunned silence. She seemed lost for words.
Briar decided to push his advantage. “Whatever words they may say, they're going to always be wrong. If you're just going to let them talk to you like that, you're letting them push you down and make you feel even worse. You have to stand up for yourself... or let me stand up for you.”
Derpy gave an irritated snort. “You can't even stand up now... oh, oh my goodness! I'm arguing with you and you're hurt!” Briar glanced over at Derpy as she mumbled worried incoherencies to herself, then grabbed her scarf in her mouth and yanked it off. She placed it just under Briar's nose in an attempt to staunch the flow of blood, the scent of fresh-baked muffins overpowering his senses briefly and making him forget the miserable state he was in.
Several minutes later, Briar Patch rose shakily to his hooves. “I think I'll be all right. Let's keep going.” He began to trot gingerly down the path.
He could feel Derpy's eyes boring into the back of his head. “That's it? No 'hello?' No 'how are you?' I haven't seen you in a whole year!”
Briar Patch looked up in reflection.
He was back in his old school, where the girl he decided to defend was looking curiously at him. He'd had his head dunked in a toilet for her sake several hours earlier, and he didn't get so much as a 'hello' or a 'how are you' from her. They had gone on their merry ways, but she kept looking at him.
There was something about her look that gave him pause. What was it? He thought at first that she may like him, but found that ludicrous. Girls weren't attracted to the kid that gets beat up all the time; they were attracted to the brawny jocks beating up the little guy. Whether it was for her sake or not, she didn't find him a better person for it. He finally decided on pity.
Every time Brian had defended that same girl, she had looked pityingly at him. She never said a single word to him, and she never made any attempt to be around him. She simply kept... looking at him.
Whenever he saw her, she was looking right back. Eventually, he came to dread the look of pity that this girl had for him. If he was around her too often, she'd end up pitying him more and more.
He liked her, but she felt sorry for him.
So, in order to better further the interests of the both of them, he began to avoid her. Not ignore her; you can never ignore a girl you like. He just went out of his way to try to not be around her because he couldn't stand that look of sadness in her eyes every time she saw him. He knew he wasn't worth her time.
“Maybe things are better off with me not being around. I'll only end up making you feel sorry for me.” Briar Patch continued his trot away from the mare he'd traveled all this way to see. He didn't want to look back and see the pity in her eyes. He wasn't sure he could ever take that look from her.
Derpy said, “Wait... Briar! Why would I feel sorry for you?”
The injured earth pony sighed. “All I ever do is get beat up. You need a stallion who can protect you and Dinky.”
“Yes... and?”
“I, uh....” Briar paused, unsure of what she meant. “You get to choose what's next, Derpy. Where I go after this... that remains to be seen. I'll find somewhere to go, don't you worry.”
Refocusing his attention on the task at hand, Briar picked up the pace of his trot. His hooves began beating rhythmically in the dirt as he accelerated, preparing to gallop all the way to the other racers.
Before he could go any further, however, a large pegasus landed atop him, knocking him to the ground and causing his ribs to thump painfully against the ground. The scent of muffins wafted over him once more, and her head came down right next to his.
Turning to look at the pony who had tackled him, he found himself staring directly into one of the eyes of Derpy Hooves, her other eye trained downward toward the rest of his face. It wasn't pity he was seeing.
“How about you go with me?”
Several hours later, the crowd surrounding the finish line had all but dissipated. There were only a few stragglers left hanging around, one of them a small purple unicorn that seemed lost. She kept glancing toward Whitetail Woods expecting to see something, but kept drawing a frown. Tears had welled up in her eyes several times, but she always shook her head and regained her look of grim determination after several drops had fallen.
Finally, a large grin split her face as she saw a familiar shape round the corner, a loud “Mommy!” escaping her lips.
Then, just as quickly as she said it, she turned her head quizzically. There was another pony with her.
As the two ponies trotted toward the finish line together, Derpy gave an involuntary shiver. Briar Patch, noticing this, pushed his body against hers. The grey pegasus rewarded him with a blush, the shaking she'd just started disappearing just as quickly.
Briar Patch looked to the sky and let out a happy sigh. He'd never felt these feelings before.
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No comments on this one? What a shame! The Autumn series was my favorite out of all four. This is one of those stories that I really wish I could see more of. But at the same time, the ending feels just right, I wouldn't want to change it.
It's actually kind of frustrating and amazing at the same time. Then again, that's how I feel about all good stories that I read. So, good job!
as a famous doctor once said "i hate endings" i do too. it makes me sad to read an end to a great story.