It's the 24th Annual Future Musician's Camp at the Canterlot School for Gifted Unicorns. Unicorns, Pegasus, and Earth ponies alike are allowed to visit. One pegasus in particular will learn to come out of his shell and realize to not be so
(This was the first story I ever tried writing. Granted, it was difficult to begin with, so I'm starting slow before getting to longer fics like this would've been. I'm sticking to short stories in the meanwhile.)
It's the 24th Annual Future Musician's Camp at the Canterlot School for Gifted Unicorns. Unicorns, Pegasus, and Earth ponies alike are allowed to visit. One pegasus in particular will learn to come out of his shell and realize to not be so afraid. How will he take on this experience without his sister to rely on?
This story will be innocent at most. No clop scenes, though there may be romantic scenes in later chapters. There will be occasional swearing in this fic, but it will be as limited as possible. (Mainly on Deb's side)
The Canterlot School for Gifted Unicorns was a very busy, very active place. It seems surprising, since this academy was a private school that only allowed the most magic-proficient unicorns to learn and live here. It was like a college, but only for ponies of the unicorn variety (as if that fact wasn’t obvious enough). It was the wealthiest school in Equestria, though, oddly enough, attending didn’t cost a single bit. Instead, a private audition was held to see how proficient the unicorn under judging really was. The most famous opportunity about this certain academy was that it was the only school to allow you to learn under (and possibly befriend) Princess Celestia herself.
Of course, like any other school in Equestria, it had its summer breaks (at least, for ponies who aren’t eggheads). While the two week break for Hearth Warming’s Eve was the only other major break throughout the school year, many of the students volunteered to work for the celebration instead. _________________________________________________________________________________________________
It was the beginning of June. Two weeks ago, the students of the CSGU (as the school will be referred to) finished their final tests and are now off for summer break. Now, however, the previously deserted campus was now seen with ponies of all races, from the young who have yet to get their cutie mark to teens hitting their senior year of high school. Pegasi, earth ponies, and unicorns from areas as rural as Ponyville to big time like Manehatten.
The occasion? It was CSGU’s annual Future Musician’s Camp. Due to the request by the school’s music department 23 years beforehand, the month-long tradition became the not only the most renowned music camp under Celestian rule, but also the most renowned of any. Several famous musicians of all kinds have made guest appearances to either perform or mentor, including the famous cellist Octavia, her complete opposite known as Vinyl Scratch (or DJ PON-3, for those who prefer that name instead), and even Lyra the…well, lyrist.
Separated to opposite ends of campus, there were two sections the camp was composed of: the ponies who loved to sing and the ponies that would rather play their hearts out on an instrument. Because of the massive variety of the latter, that section was divided between band and orchestral instrumentalists, similar to the division played out in the more wealthy schools. The vocal section was also divided between classical and show choirs if the turnout was big enough, but otherwise it was a mix of both. Of course, all ponies were separated by age as well, usually between grades 3-6, 7-9, and 10-12.
Colts and fillies alike rushed onto to campus along with their parents in glee, a mix of excitement and, for familiar campers, meeting with long-distance friends. The registration booth was hard at work getting campers signed in to their respective sections and dorms. Surprisingly, there was a lack of chaos and anarchy during this process. As registration usually started during mid-afternoon, and because of the surplus of ponies that often took part, they usually didn’t end until about seven in the evening.
There were two ponies, brother and sister, that stood out from the others. Perhaps it was because the older sister, a unicorn, was dragging her younger brother by his tail with her magic.
“I change my mind, Deb! I can’t do this! I just wanna go home again!” the white, blue-eyed colt whined. He showed a face of panic in a way that told that he was going to regret his decision. All his sister did was sigh.
“I already told you, everything is going to be fine,” Debtone, or Deb as she was usually referred to, replied matter-of-factly. “You’re going to find some new friends here and have a fun experience. You’re making things worse than they really are.”
Her crimson eyes stared back at her brother, who jumped in response. She giggled at his reaction and turned her eyes back toward the commons, where registration was held. While she loved her brother dearly, her impish personality couldn’t help but tease the timid pony. She sometimes joked with her brother that she was a vampire because of the hue of her eyes. And because she inherited them from her mother, she often teased with him about that too.
The colt tried to fly away but his sister’s grasp was too firm. His only result was a faceplant to the ground.
“You’re only hurting yourself right now, Treble,” she said in a calming yet unusually serious voice. “Dad already left and Mom’s getting her dorm room ready. You aren’t escaping now.”
It was times like these where I wish I would’ve brought my plastic fangs with me, she thought with a smile.
The colt, Treble, decided to finally give up and walk with his sister. He was originally excited to go to the camp. Debtone, a student at CSGU as of the previous year, had already gone to this camp for 3 years and sounded interesting to him.
However, it wasn’t until they arrived on campus that she told him that he would most likely have a roommate. That set him off. He’s had bad experiences with other ponies, and being shy and easily scared didn’t help matters.
His sister gave him a friendly yet apologetic look.
“Better? Mom already signed us up ahead of time, so we only have to get our dorm keys and away we go,” said an enthusiastic Debtone.
“I wish we were just back in Trottingham,” Treble replied. His eyes were focused on the ground and nothing more.
Deb, being a couple years older than him, understood what he was feeling…somewhat. She looked back at her first year of coming here. She was excited and optimistic when she got there, but the moment she locked her door for lights out, she started having second thoughts. Her mom wasn’t acting as camp counselor there that year like she had done in the past. For the first time in her life, she felt lonely.
Then there was Treble. He seemed to be in a worse shape for this than she was back then. At least she was able to make friends easily the few days after. He was always shy and timid. It didn’t help matters of how she teased her brother, but whenever he tried to be social, whatever he would say or do would just come out as awkward. Being a blank flank wouldn’t help him make any friends, either. He wouldn’t last two days, let alone a month. Out of pity, she began to regret bringing him along. This was a pretty cruel thing for a Big Sister Best Friend Forever to do…
The siblings arrived in front of one of the registration booths. Deb cleared her voice to catch the attention of a pink mare. No, the entire pony was in shades of pink. Her puffy pink mane and tail, with a bubblegum-colored coat and a cutie mark consisting of…balloons? This pony definitely wasn’t here last year.
“Um, excuse me, my brother and I are here for our-“
“Ooh! Hi! I’m Pinkie Pie! I only made an appearance in this fanfic because there were already two OCs! And a good fanfic needs more recognizable characters from the show!” Pinkie exclaimed in glee, much to Deb’s confusion. It was enough for Treble to hide behind one of his sister’s hind legs.
“What are you talking about?” Deb asked in a tone that sounded like she was talking to an insane pony.
“Don’t you know? Right now, we’re in a fanfiction about a music camp and the two main characters are OCs! There are already going to be plenty of OCs in this fic, so we’re going to need more show characters so the author can actually make this somewhat readable! Oh! You’re Vinyl’s kids, aren’t you?”
Deb was taken aback by the sudden change of topic. Now she felt uncomfortable. She didn’t like having the terms “Vinyl” and “kids” going together. But Pinkie was right: Treble and her were Vinyl’s kids. After her relationship with Octavia, unfortunately, didn’t work out, they still became best friends. Heck, Octavia an aunt now! But when Vinyl met a stallion interested in classical rock and singing, they hooked up…funny, how they barely shared anything in common.
“Yes…now can we have our dorm keys?” asked Deb with an impatient look on her face. She was wanting to keep her mother’s identity a secret, but nopony else seemed to notice what Pinkie said. Still, just to make sure.
“Okie dokie lokie!” the hyperactive mare said. She gave two sets of keys, one for each room, to Debtone.
Finally, Deb thought. I hope I don’t have to meet that pony again. She really gives me the creeps.
It didn’t take a professional to know that that was what Treble was thinking as well. ______________________________________________________________________________
After a bit of a walk down campus, the siblings finally arrived at the dorm Treble was staying in. The building itself showed of old age, yet still looked up to date as far as technology went. A keycard scanner that would’ve normally been used during the school year was turned off, allowing the doors to open for anypony. It was only able to lock with a key supplied by the dorm counselor.
When Deb opened up the door to Treble’s dorm room, he latched on to her foreleg, getting ready to burst into tears.
“I can’t do this! I don’t want to leave you!” the scared colt cried. He looked up to Deb’s face, only seeing a smile. He wasn't sure if he should be cheered up or not by it.
“Everything will be alright,” she reassured him. “See? Mom already unpacked for you.”
Indeed, everything that Treble brought with him was unpacked in a semi-organized fashion. His swimsuit was on a dresser folded neatly, sitting next to his pair of shades (sunglasses with blue-tinted lens) and his music player. His sleeping bag and Wonderbolts pillow was resting on his bed, along with what probably caught his attention the most: a stuffed yellow and green dragon.
“Mr. Fangs!” he exclaimed in utter joy. He jumped onto the bed and hugged his stuffed animal. Debtone just looked and reminisced when she was Treble’s age. She still missed her old stuffed panda at times. Since she lost it during a trip to her mom’s concert, she still had bad dreams about what could’ve happened to the animal.
Deb cleared her throat to grab her innocent brother’s attention again. Then she sat down on the bed Treble was laying on. She knew she had to make her brother comfortable here somehow. Mr. Fangs was only an escape from the real world. His imagination was still going strong. So she came up with a story that she had heard that her father’s sister would tell him.
“Listen, there was a filly, a pegasus named Fluttershy,” Deb began. Treble’s eyes widened. His sister would tell this story after he had a nightmare, and it always boosted his spirits and calmed him down to go back to sleep again. He would always tell himself to stay awake for the whole story, but to no avail. He swore this time that he definitely would.
“She was a pony like you. Shy and timid. She made a living by taking care of animals, and had 5 friends who would always look out for her.”
As Deb continued the story, her brother was noticeably getting drowsy. After finishing the story that ended up as a summary for Friendship is Magic’s episode of Dragonshy, Treble was fully asleep. It was 9 at night when she noticed, and lights out wouldn't be until 11.
“I’ll be here for you,” Deb said to her brother with a caring smile on her face as she heard an audible snore. “I always will.”
And with that, she left his room to go to her own. She had some friends to meet up with, anyway. Tomorrow would be Treble’s first day at any camp, ever. She prayed to Faust that it would go well, both for herself and for her brother.
Treble awoke in his room back in Trottingham. It was pitch black outside, a full moon shining behind thin clouds. He had a weird feeling in his gut, but he ignored it. He got up and walked out of his bedroom and into his sister’s room.
“Deb?” he called out. “Can I sleep with you? I had a bad dream.”
He walked over toward his sister’s bed, but she wasn’t there. Instead, pulling off the covers, he found a note. Go back to bed, it said.
All of the sudden, there was a shriek coming from downstairs. He called for her as he ran to the stairway. And that’s when he saw it.
His muscles froze up at the sight in front of him. There was a white pony in a business suit at the bottom of the stairs. He had tentacles coming out of his back that seemed to be made out of pure darkness. Ironically, the tentacles were still visible in the darkness.
The tentacles were wrapped around Deb as the eerily familiar pony finally looked up toward Treble. That’s when the scariest part of this ever-returning nightmare was revealed: the lack of a face. He looked back at Deb and continued to choke her with his tentacles of darkness until she disappeared. Just like that, gone.
The business suited pony looked again at Treble. The young colt ran toward his room and tried to open his bedroom door. It wouldn’t open. He was trapped.
The nightmarish pony, better known as Slendermane, climbed the last step and approached Treble. He said something unintelligible, but Treble knew immediately what it meant: he would regret ever witnessing what happened to his sister. Slendermane’s tentacles grew larger, and lashed them toward the colt. Suddenly… ______________________________________________________________________________
BZZZT! BZZZT! BZZZT!
Treble awoke from his nightmare, startled by the loud alarm his mom had set for him. It was 7 in the morning now and breakfast started in a half hour. Sighing, he got out of bed. His mane was a mess, and he knew Deb would kill him if she saw it. Reluctantly, he spit in his hoof and dragged it through his mane. That should be good enough, he thought as he walked out the door with his shades on.
Treble tried to move through the hallways as quietly yet as quickly as possible. He hated other ponies. All throughout growing up, he had been made fun of and tortured by other fillies and colts. It wasn’t uncommon for him to come home bruised and/or humiliated. He still had a stuffed animal friend at his age? What a lowlife! Still doesn’t have his cutie mark? Blank flank! Don’t sit by the outcast that sits alone at the lunch table, you’ll turn into a stupidhead! It was this type of bullying that made him so asocial. He couldn’t trust anyone that wasn’t his family or Mr. Fangs.
He made it to the lobby of the dormitory to find that some older colts and fillies were already there. Out of panic, he dashed out the door without looking at any of them, much to the others’ confusion. He didn’t care what the others thought of him at this point. Everypony would look at him the same way: the weird colt that talked to a stuffed dragon. It could be worse: he could’ve had a roommate like Deb was mentioning the possibility of. ______________________________________________________________________________
Fiddling around with the key around his neck, an important question stood in his mind: Where was the commons again? He started to panic. He didn’t even have a map of the campus, he’s just supposed to know where to go.
“Calm down, Treble,” he said to himself, trying to keep calm. “Just look for a building that looks like a commons…”
What was a commons, again?
Fifteen minutes later, he eventually found out. After running all across campus trying to search for the commons, it was in a place he should have thought about before: smack dab in the center of the campus. One long facehoof later, he entered.
Expecting to see his BSBFF in line or at one of the tables eating, he was disappointed to find no such face. He went in line after finally willing himself to and waited as the line slowly progressed. That’s when he jumped at a small tap on his shoulder. Turning around to think it was his sister, what he got instead was a little bit better. The problem with this was that he became even shyer just looking at her.
She was a unicorn, like his sister but only his age. She had a white coat like his, and her mane and tail both were colors that mixed like what he found when he opened Trix(ie) yogurt; A perfect mix of lavender and light bubblegum colors which weren’t blended but still perfect. Her emerald eyes marked good intention and, though he knew it would be rude, couldn’t help but get trapped in the beauty that was in front of him. He wanted to know who this filly was, but he didn’t dare risk opening his mouth.
(And we can all guess who this is.)
Meanwhile, outside of daydream land, Treble’s mouth was ajar and he was stuck in a trance.
“Hello?” the filly’s voice squeaked.
Treble immediately broke out of his trance with that one word, realizing he was probably making a fool of himself yet again.
“I’m trying to ask you, what’s for breakfast?” the filly continued.
“Oh, um…”
Treble was embarrassed at this point. Good going, Treble. You stayed in dream land for too long and now you look like a dork, he told himself. Trying to rub off the humiliation, he took a deep breath and fought against his shyness to tell her.
“Alfalfa, hay bacon, and apple juice…”
“What? I couldn’t hear you.”
“Alfalfa, hay bacon, and apple juice.”
“Huh? I’m sorry, but can you speak louder?”
“Alfalfa, hay bacon, and apple juice!!”
That’s when Treble noticed that he was getting looks from everypony in the room. He looked around and realized that he may have overstayed his welcome. Even though he was getting his food next, he ran out of the line. The filly was shouting back at him.
“Come back! You’re next in line!”
Treble ignored her and bolted out of the building, trying to hold back his tears of humiliation. ______________________________________________________________________________
Meanwhile, Sweetie Belle was looking back from where the colt went out of the building. (Who didn’t see Sweetie Belle coming? If you recognized the appearance of a dictionary by the details, then congrats! You are rightfully a brony! If not, then why are you here?)
“He reminded me of Fluttershy a little bit,” she responded. She was here at the music camp to try and get her cutie mark in singing. She liked it a lot and tried to convince the rest of her trio of Crusaders to come. Unfortunately, neither of them were able to. Applebloom was going to be busy gathering apples for her sister and brother while Rainbow Dash was taking Scootaloo to a Wonderbolts performance. Even after that, Scootaloo would probably stay with her theoretical big sister anyway.
Sweetie got her food and sat a table alone. She couldn’t find any other fillies or colts her age that were blank flanks. In fact, the colt that left actually was a blank flank! She should write to her fellow Crusaders to tell them about the achievement. The colt gave off a certain feel to her though. A feel that, if she told Rarity about, would cause her sister to endlessly annoy her about the topic.
She liked him. ______________________________________________________________________________
Despite his stomach growling time and time again, Treble skipped breakfast and looked for a building called Starswirl Hall. He was supposed to meet with the rest of the choir campers around his age there, and of course, got hopelessly lost. Desperate for help, Treble walked into a nearby dome-shaped building.
The dome was much larger than what he had expected from the outside. Everywhere, books of all genres and sizes lined up the shelves. He thought that this was observatory at first, but the overabundance of scrolls, tomes, atlases, and textbooks proved that this was a library. The words of a purple winged unicorn checking in several books from during the school year set the mood.
“Hi, there! What book are you here for? I’ve got horrors, comedies, tragedies, adventures, romance…”
“I’m actually here for directions…” the colt interrupted.
“Oh. Okay, what can I help you with then?” said the promising alicorn.
The colt thought hard about the question. It was a simple question. All he had to do was ask where Starswirl Hall is. But even his simplest questions came out awkward, and he didn’t need that. He already had enough humiliation for the day.
“Where…is Starswirl HaOH MY FAUST IS THAT A DRAGON?!”
He dashed to where the alicorn’s assistant was and looked in marvel. He couldn’t believe it. A real dragon! It was just like Mr. Fangs, only real! He hugged the dragon and, sure enough, he was covered in scales. The dragon gave a smirk to the purple princess, to which she gave him an annoyed look.
Treble finally let go. “I’m sorry, I just have never seen a real dragon before!”
“You wouldn’t be the first to say that,” exclaimed the alicorn, looking as if she was reminiscing of distant memories.
To make a long story short, Treble lost track of time and, when finally focused back on why he really entered, was able to get directions. The colt dashed to hurry off to Starswirl Hall before he was late.
“Twilight, he doesn’t exactly seem shy like Vinyl said he would be when he came in here,” said a bewildered assistant.
All the most recently coronated princess could do was smile. ______________________________________________________________________________
Treble made his way to Starswirl Hall, only to find a group of colts and fillies already waiting outside. Great, he thought. The humiliation’s going to come back. Taking a nervous breath, he walked over to the crowd. He attempted to ignore the familiar filly he saw at breakfast and sat on a bench in front of the building.
“Hey,” said the filly as she approached. Treble tried to ignore her, but couldn’t help but look toward her. There she was, in all her lavender-bubblegum-maned, emerald-eyed glory.
“You’re a blank flank too?”
This filly’s a blank flank?!
And surely enough, staring at her rump (which he thought was rather nice…he tried to snap out of staring at it for too long), was the lack of a cutie mark. That made Treble a little bit more comfortable.
“Yeah, I am…” he simply replied, still being cautious not to ruin his chances with the mystery filly.
“I’m Sweetie Belle! I’m in a group called the Cutie Mark Crusaders! We’re on a quest to find out where we are, and we’ll never stop the journey until we finally get our cutie marks!”
Treble was a bit taken back by the random rhyming. Was that supposed to be intentional? He was intrigued, however, about this Cutie Mark Crusader thing. He was about to say something when a familiar pink pony literally bounced over to the building.
“Ooh! This is going to be so fun! Teaching music to colts and fillies alike! It would be a shame if the author decided to skip my teaching!” Then Pinkie turned to what appeared to be nothing and squinted at some sort of invisible figure. “I’m talking to you, thisnameisironic!” she said in a suddenly serious tone.
Pinkie then went back to her usual gleeful self and hummed as she bounced into the building. Treble gave a look of confusion, one that Sweetie Belle noticed.
“It’s difficult to say this with a straight face, but you’ll get used to her.”
The colt responded. “Huh?”
“We both come from Ponyville. Pinkie is best friends with Twilight, so she was able to convince Princess Celestia to let her become a counselor here.”
“Twilight?” the colt asked. That’s when he remembered. On the way out, he thought he heard the dragon he met refer to the librarian by that name. Pinkie was friends with a princess?
Sweetie Belle was tugging on Treble’s hoof. He spaces out a lot, doesn’t he? she thought.
“Come on! We’re going to be late!”
Treble snapped himself back into reality and allowed himself to be dragged in by Sweetie Belle. He was surprisingly okay with this. Maybe I should tell this to my sister, he thought, making sure not to speak out loud. Because you know what? At least this isn’t completely bad.
WARNING: This chapter contains large amounts of feels. Read at your own risk.
Debtone looked around the commons as she came in. She couldn’t find her foal brother anywhere. That was another thing she did to tease Treble: he absolutely loathed being called that. She called him that when he was first born, and it’s always sticked since. He could be a full grown stallion with a wife and foals of his own and she would still call him her foal brother. She giggled at the thought.
After she broke out of her ADHD and got back on task, she continued to look toward the commons entrance. Where is he? Even with his shyness, he would at least come for breakfast and gobble down 2 platefuls of alfalfa. And the hay bacon…
She knew not to even get started on that.
Her words trailed off as she noticed two of her CSGU classmates approaching where she was sitting. One of them was a dark purple unicorn with a short cerulean mane and a tail to match. Another was the shortest of the group, a rash pony, with a scarlet mane (that seemed to always be hidden under a baseball cap) and a wine-colored coat.
“What’s wrong with you?” the red-maned young mare questioned with a gruff voice for a mare. (Imagine Gilda but with only a slightly more feminine voice)
“Nothing, Berry,” Deb replied in a monotone. This caught Strawberry by surprise, and not in a good way.
“I told you not to call me that!” Berry reacted angrily. “I told you my name is B. I prefer it that way!”
The purple unicorn had to grab hold of the easily angered first-year with her magic to calm her down. It was clear “B” was a tomcolt, and wasn’t very appreciative of the name she was given as a foal. Her mother was Berry Punch, a heavy alcoholic who surprising didn’t give birth to a child with fetal alcohol syndrome. Punch was so drunk at the time that she didn’t even give B an actual last name; she was simply named Berry, proven by her birth certificate.
“Thanks Aura,” Deb said to the purple unicorn, born from an astronomer and former opera vocalist.
As the two mares sat down, Deb continued staring toward the entrance. Her elder sister senses brought her into (quite well hidden) tension. Where is he? Did something happen? Did he oversleep? Did he get lost again? All these thoughts and more rushed through her head at once at blinding speeds.
Something’s troubling you, Deb. I can sense it.
Deb jumped at the sudden voice in her head to find Aura staring at her with caring eyes. While most unicorns were able to learn telepathy in advanced magic classes, Aura was able to do it at a very young age. She was also able to tell exactly how a pony was feeling, a skill that not many unicorns, let alone any race of ponies, possess. Aura thinks that she got her abilities from her mother, who worked as a gypsy and mind reader in Neigh Orleans before she moved to more “professional” things.
“It’s your brother, isn’t it?” Aura predicted oh-so-innocently.
Deb sighed. “Yeah…where is he? Do you know?”
Aura shook her head, much to Deb’s dismay.
“Don’t look at me. I’m a mind reader, not a fortune teller,” she replied.
Deb’s question was answered, however, as she overheard a conversation at a nearby table of colts. She couldn’t tell exactly what was being said, but what she could now seemed obvious to her.
“Dude…hear about…white colt?”
“…yeah…out like a foal.”
“…wimp.”
Deb covered her face in her hooves in embarrassment. It should’ve been completely obvious. Of course Treble would humiliate himself. He tended to have a habit of doing that with other ponies, didn’t he? Now she felt absolutely terrible. Her foal brother shouldn’t have to go through the pain that he has. She had gotten countless letters from him during the school year, many of them about missing her or mishaps at school. During the week her first year started, Treble was beaten mercilessly, taking home a black eye and a torn saddlebag. It didn’t get any better from there on out.
That’s when the sound of a china plate breaking was heard.
Deb looked down at her plate, finding it cracked in half. She often accidentally used magic when she let emotions take over. It was also often that the result would get her into trouble. Berry was oblivious to the event, gobbling down one strip of hay bacon after another. Aura took a quick glance at Deb’s mishaps then quickly looked down again, knowing she wouldn’t have wanted anypony to notice.
Deb levitated the halves of her plate to the drop-off station nearby and left, without a word. No doubt she would be crying for her brother by the forest trail until she had to meet with the rest of her choir group by the auditorium. It wasn’t easy being your foal brother’s sort of guardian angel. ______________________________________________________________________________
As soon as Deb left, Aura sighed. Being an only child, she didn’t exactly know what it was like to have a sibling. That didn’t stop her from wanting one. One year older than Deb and a CSGU veteran of sorts, she took her under her wing (theoretically) and acted as an older sister to her.
“B. Listen,” she said to the tomcolt. “We gotta help Deb out. She needs somepony for support.”
The other mare looked up from her second plate of hay bacon.
“And?”
Aura gave her a bothered look. B was almost always like this, so it was surprising that she was still considered a friend. She had a habit of not really caring for other ponies’ feelings. 'We can’t change how they feel. Why should we even try?' she would always say. It always annoyed the living Tartarus out of Aura.
“And?! You know how Deb gets when she gets depressed over her brother!” the mind reader pointed out.
“Fiiine…” the tomcolt said. When Aura’s mind was set on something, she wouldn’t lose that thought until it was finally resolved.
“Deb hasn't felt this terrible since she first came to Canterlot,” Aura stated. “Got any ideas?”
“Well, Deb could do whatever nerd things she does. Like watch Doctor Whooves or something.”
That comment resulted in a slap to the face courtesy of an angered Aura. When Aura got angry, that was usually a sign to run for cover.
“Lauren Faust, what’s with you today?!” Aura shouted, catching the attention of ponies around her. She slammed her cup of apple juice on the table, which made even B cringe.
“Look, I’m sorry, it slipped!” the still-shocked tomcolt apologized, but her “friend” wouldn't hear it.
“Did you even learn from the friendship letters you sent to Princess Celestia? Because you sure as buck don’t act like you have. Even ‘The Great and Powerful Trixie’ would have learned more about friendship with her egotistic personality than your peanut-shaped mind can apparently comprehend!”
Aura, who only got upset for rational reasons, carefully but hastily set her leftover food and cup at the drop-off station. The rest of the cafeteria was silent as this was going on. Before she left, she cast a glare back at Berry.
“Don’t even plan on following me, B. Maybe if you actually learned some manners you would have friends to begin with.”
And with that, she left. Other ponies could swear that Aura’s ears were steaming.
Berry quickly finished her food and, without dropping it off, teleported back to her dorm room. Not even Mom in her drunken rage would be this...harsh. She took out a piece of paper from her desk, an ink pot, and a quill. Perhaps now she should actually write a letter she would actually mean. Opening a bottle of cider she smuggled in with her to drown away her sorrows, she began.
Dear Celestia, today I learned to not be a dick… ______________________________________________________________________________
Deb was lying on a bench along the Canterlot School fitness trail. She was in front of the campus forest trail, where animals of many species could be sighted and watched. It was usually deserted as it was only used by classes of natural sciences during the school year, such as zoology and botany.
Deb’s tears were streaming down her face. There were usually two types of melancholy she would normally face. The first and most common was depression. When she got letters from Treble about how much she missed her, how difficult his school life has been, or practically anything from Treble to begin with, she got slightly depressed. It would usually dissipate shortly though, as she often forced herself to socialize with her friends afterwards to forget about the issue. Then there was undeniable sadness, when she would actually cry. This didn't happen much at all (except, of course, the end of a season of Doctor Whooves or when she was a little filly and she wasn't allowed to ride on that spaceship at the mall) unless she was deeply hurt by something.
In this case, it was her brother. She remembered getting a call on her Pear Phone 4 that she got as a present from her mom for being accepted.
It was a few weeks before Hearth’s Warming break, and finals were coming up. She was into her music history report when she got the call. She thought she turned it off specifically for this reason, and answered. It was her dad, and he seemed to be in a state of panic that only meant that something terrible happened. That’s when she heard the news: Treble was literally almost bullied to death.
At that moment, Treble was under intensive care after a group of colts caught up with him after school and attacked senselessly until a neighbor shooed them away. He arrived at the hospital, with reports of a broken hind leg and bloody coughing. Doctors said that he was not fatally wounded and would be able to recover in a month give or take. He had never needed her sister so much in his life.
So, with permission from Princess Celestia, she was allowed to spend the entire recovering process with Treble at her own expense. She would receive the homework she would miss class for and, when she got back during break, would have to make up her finals immediately. To Deb and Treble both, it was worth it.
It was her job to make Treble better, since he had no friends. He was always too shy to interact with other ponies ever since he was born, and it was always a hassle to convince him otherwise. He only had her and his stuffed animal that acted as a sort of imaginary friend.
She would do all in her power to make sure he was happy, despite the life-threatening event he fell victim to. She made funny faces at him to make him laugh, she read him his favorite series, Captain Lyrapants, and even spent hours on end just watching TV with him. She didn’t even prank him once like she usually would, and instead helped him use the bathroom and shower, which she hoped at the time was worth it, considering that she had to wash his “colt parts” for him. ______________________________________________________________________________
As she was about to go deeper into her saddest memory, a familiar voice interrupted.
“Hey, Deb.”
Aura walked over to her, with a caring, motherly smile that Deb’s own wasn’t exactly known for giving. That was the good thing about having friends: they were always there to help you in times of need. Aura sat on what little space of the bench Deb didn’t take up.
Deb immediately pushed herself up and hugged Aura, sobbing into her shoulder. This would almost never happen in public unless she was desperate; Really desperate, like a father whose son wandered off in a crowded mall, resulting in shouting for the colt until finally finding him.
At least she knew how to take care of this problem, at least how a foal sitter would. She put her forelegs around Deb and hugged her. She was always there for her surrogate sister, and she always would be. It would be a long while before Deb would finally let up.
“It’s almost time for voice classifications and rehearsal, Deb,” Aura pointed out. Deb just put her head down in response.
“I’m not going,” Deb replied.
“How come?”
“You already know why.”
And she did. Deb’s possessed heavy amounts of melancholic aura. She was reminiscing on the darker parts of her life, specifically what happened to her brother before her first winter break at CSGU. It hurt to read those emotions, and it was crystal clear that this was much more than the usual homesickness.
“Why am I putting my brother through all this?” Deb asked her friend. “Maybe I’m just hurting him more.”
“That’s not true,” Aura answered. “You cared about your brother’s future, and you’re trying to help him get comfortable with other ponies. If I were your mom, I would be proud of you. Plus, after afternoon rehearsal, everypony has the evening off. And you can still meet with your brother at lunch.”
“But he needs to grow independent, doesn’t he?” Deb questioned. She really invited him to the camp so he can learn to become independent. Of course, he never told Treble that. Going to a camp meant that there would be a lot of ponies. With ponies, there would be bullies. And with bullies, there will be pain.
Aura shook her head.
“Just because you want him to be independent doesn’t mean that you have to completely isolate yourself from him. Plus, one pony can’t become completely independent…but rather interdependent.”
Deb looked up in confusion, so Aura began to explain.
“Being independent would mean that you would work completely on your own, without any help from others. The thing is, all ponies need help sometime, and working alone wouldn’t work. That’s when they have to rely on others in times of need. Like you are with me right now.”
Aura paused to let the fact settle in.
“Sure, your brother needs to learn to deal with things on his own more often. But what if something happened to him like that one early winter where-“
“Don’t talk about that!” Deb screamed, clearly at the aggressive point in her breakdown. “I told you that-”
Aura raised a hoof to delay if not calm the uprising anger. Uneagerly, Deb shut her mouth so Aura could continue.
“If that event happened to him, and he was unwilling to let anypony help him, what would happen?”
Deb looked it away. It was clear that she was trying to avoid the thought.
“Look, you can still spend time with your brother here. The fitness center should be open tonight. Does he swim?” Aura inquired.
“…Yeah. Not as much as our dad, but he’s okay with swimming.” Deb said, giggling. “You should have seen him when he was learning how to. It was definitely a sight to see.”
“Oh, I can imagine,” Aura retorted, as they proceeded to laugh.
“We’re going to be late, Deb,” Aura informed, getting back on topic.
“Yeah, let’s go. Oh, and Aura?”
Aura, who was turned toward the auditorium, turned around again to be met by a hug.
Treble walked out of Starswirl Hall blushing. Something just happened that changed his life forever. Something he couldn’t wait to tell Deb the next time he saw her. Something that probably Celestia herself couldn’t predict.
Treble got-
Hey! Don't spoil it!
Huh? Pinkie Pie? What are you..?
You skipped over the class I was teaching!
Pinkie, it was only for the conven-
-ience of the readers, I get that. But you Pinkie Promised that you wouldn’t skip my class!
…Crap. Look, I’ll narrate your class-
No one breaks a Pinkie Promise. EVER!!!
Pinkie, I’m sorry! I forgot about it and..!
…
Look, you want to narrate with me or not?
…
Now Pinkie, I know what you’re thinking.
…I’d love to stick and chat, but I got other places in the story I gotta be!
Wait, Pinkie!
…
Well, anyway, Treb-
At least tell what happened before he walked out!
I WAS GETTING THERE! ______________________________________________________________________________
Pinkie Pie’s class was…interesting to say the least. She was supposed to be teaching music theory, but it ended up more like a very fast-paced game of 20 questions. There wasn’t even any learning at all, except for the fact that physics were no match for this pink pony. Despite being an earth pony, she managed to teleport herself around the room faster than a blur. There was no warning, much to the misfortune of Treble during the class.
When Treble entered the choir room of Starswirl Hall with Sweetie Belle, they had to sit separate from eachother. The colts were in the middle, while the fillies were on either side. Oddly enough, there weren’t any classification tests. He thought there were supposed to be categories like sopranos, tenors, and altos. Instead, the classifications were simply “boy” and “girl”.
After the fairly quick “voice placement test” that didn’t seem fitting to call so, Pinkie immediately began answering questions for other ponies. Surprisingly, this took up the entire rest of the class. Pinkie would even let them out a half hour early!
Treble found this time to look at…he didn’t know what the term would be. He liked her, but it was more than just liking her. Also, the fact that she was a blank flank just like him…he got butterflies in his stomach thinking about that. Another fact was that…he couldn’t put his finger on what it was. In fact, he didn’t know exactly why he liked her. He just did.
Sunlight was shining through a window onto Sweetie Belle’s mane. It may have just been his imagination, but her mane and tail seemed to sparkle in the light…sparkle, not glitter. He hadn’t realized it that much until now, but he really liked her mane. He was about to look at her tail when he was startled by a hyperactive voice that suddenly appeared behind her.
“Ooo! Ooo! I think I met you at registration! Pebble! Vinyl’s kid, right? I worked with her at Princess Cadence’s wedding! Do you have any questions like the others? You haven’t raised your hoof yet!”
There was a short silence when she finished talking. Then quiet murmur. Treble felt his blood rush to his head. He could overhear some of the colts and fillies already.
“Vinyl? Does she mean the Vinyl?”
“Vinyl wasn’t straight!”
“Is he adopted?”
Pinkie cleared her throat, stopping the commotion.
“I think we’re done here. I’m famished from all answering and taking-questioning! You can go early!” ______________________________________________________________________________
The fillies and colts rushed out. All except Treble. He was still in shock from what just happened. He didn’t want ponies to know that his mom was the loud, partying, and obnoxious mare that was Vinyl Scratch.
Now, in Treble’s eyes anyway, he was going back to the same world of pain he has been trying to avoid. Vinyl’s a lesbian? He didn’t know what that was, but he still took offense. Vinyl’s an alcoholic? She actually quit while with Octavia, but since Treble didn’t know, he denied it. Vinyl’s a sellout? That really got his dander up!
Now he was stuck. He can’t bear to show himself again. He figured he should just go back to his dorm room and stay there for the rest of the month. He was sure he could survive 30 days on 10 bags of munchies and 24 cans of Colta-Colas. Maybe he could starve himself. Maybe he was a little pudgy.
While he was continuing to prepare for his own personal apocalypse, he felt a tap on the shoulder. He turned toward the tapper to find a familiar white unicorn, with the same Trixie yogurt-like blend of a mane.
Faust, I really like her mane…
“You alright? You’ve just been sitting here since we were let out,” Sweetie Belle asked, which the colt could tell was with good intention.
Treble looked at her then looked down again, trying to ignore his tears.
“Look, if this is about your mom…” Sweetie began, but then the white colt started bawling. Sweetie could tell that he was obviously sensitive about the topic. She knew Vinyl Scratch, of course. She’s performed at Ponyville a few times, but never actually listened to her music. She remembered that at one point her sister hired Vinyl to mix while she showed off her Gala dresses. It turned out to fail in the end, but it didn’t matter anymore.
“Listen, I don’t care if your mom’s a DJ. My sister runs her own fashion shop, so I’m rarely able to spend time with her. I can’t play with her or anything.”
Treble lifted his head, showing his eyes red from tears. That sounded almost exactly like his relationship with his mom. She was busy all the time working on music, or performing at concerts, or whatever she usually did. Whatever time he would be able to spend with her, he would take advantage of.
“Listen,” Treble began. “I just-”
Sweetie Belle hugged him. He wasn’t really expecting it, but he liked it. The filly that he “liked” was now giving him a hug when he needed it most.
“You just need someone to cheer you up, that’s all.”
Then, out of nowhere, something happened that neither of them could’ve predicted.
Sweetie pecked Treble on the nose. Both of them blushed at about the same time.
What just happened? Treble thought to himself. Did she…kiss me? Why do I have this weird feeling? It’s like…
POMF!
At that moment, his wings burst open. He looked back at his wings and, for some reason, they wouldn’t go back down. Why did he feel…embarrassed?
Sweetie giggled.
“Is something wrong?” she asked, unaware of what was ensuing on the colt’s back.
“N-No, nothing's wrong…” he replied. He should ask his dad about this. He’s a pegasus, after all. He might know this stuff.
“Well…the others are throwing frisbees downstairs,” Sweetie mentioned. “You wanna play with them?”
Treble, for a moment, didn’t know how to respond. It would be nice to spend more time with this filly, but he really wanted to see Deb. He wanted to tell her about Sweetie, and why he’s feeling the way he is around her. But he can’t just say no; it would be rude.
“I’m…sorry. I need to see my sister. I want to talk to her about something,” he replied, bracing for the worst.
“It’s fine.”
Treble turned to walk out but then looked back at Sweetie.
“…See you at lunch?”
Those words alone gave Sweetie possibly the biggest grin he has ever seen.
Treble smiled back and ran out the door. Sweetie Belle thought to herself after he left. She didn’t know what made her kiss him. It just…happened.
Note to self: don’t tell Rarity about this. ______________________________________________________________________________
Treble returned to his room after a long, wet sprint back to his dorm. Rain was pouring heavily outside and he absolutely hated rain. He didn’t like his tail and mane getting soaked when he was going somewhere, especially when he didn’t have a carriage to get into. There seemed to be only one exception to this, though: swimming. He didn’t like it at first, but now whenever he got the chance to, he would be more than happy to do it…if there weren’t many ponies around, of course.
Treble plopped on the bed. Did that moment really just happen? Sweetie Belle, the filly of his dreams, kissing him on the nose? Nopony else was around, which seemed to make it even more surreal. And that mane...
Dear Faust, that mane!
Then she was a blank flank, just like him. Something about that just made her that much more special. He was the only one in Trottingham, so he was always the target that caught the attention of bullies. It wasn’t fair! Couldn’t they just catch him a break and pick on some other pony?
That’s when he thought he heard something move.
Treble jumped. That was one problem with his dorm: he had to share a bathroom with a camper from an adjacent room to his. He thought that’s probably what Deb meant about having a roommate. But he had this fear that the pony in particular would be…one of those types. Like the type who would sneak into your bedroom while you’re sleeping and scare you awake.
Then he heard it again. It wasn’t coming from the bathroom, though. It was like whatever it could be was right in front of him. That’s when a certain light gray unicorn with red eyes materialized out of thin air.
“SURPRISE, FOAL BROTHER!!!"
Treble flinched and hit his head on the wall behind him. He rubbed the back of his head, since that knockback would probably give him a headache later on.
“Buck, what was that for?!” Treble reacted to yet another one of his sister’s immature pranks.
“Sorry. You left your door unlocked, so I had to make sure you would lock it next time,” Deb explained apologetically.
“Yeah, I guess…and don’t call me that!”
Deb giggled at his response to her title for the colt.
“You’re always going to be my foal brother, and you know it. Anyway, how was the first morning at camp?” ______________________________________________________________________________
Shrugging off his little “nickname”, he proceeded to tell Deb everything he remembered from that morning. He told her about this morning, and why he wasn’t there for breakfast. At that moment, his stomach growled, to which they both laughed and Deb giving him a granola bar.
He told her about when he went into the library to ask for directions and ended up meeting a real dragon. Even though she already knew about Twilight working at the library since her coronation, she still showed a face of amusement as Treble went into his excitement about seeing a dragon close up.
He told her about Pinkie Pie’s music theory class. About how, really, he didn’t learn anything at all except for the party pony’s physics breaking. Deb seemed concerned about this fact.
“Last year at camp we had a different music theory teacher, but after she retired, Pinkie Pie took her place,” Deb pointed out. “Now I know you won’t be getting the most here.”
Treble just looked down to the ground.
“I wish I’d brought my guitar. Or my keyboard,”
“For?”
And that’s when he began the highlight of the morning: the filly named Sweetie Belle.
Treble went into more detail about meeting his first friend at camp than the other events combined. He went into detail about how she was a blank flank like him, and came to the camp to hopefully get her cutie mark. He talked about how nice her mane and tail were, and how it seemed to sparkle in sunlight. He mentioned how she was still friendly to him despite Pinkie revealing that he was Vinyl’s son. He almost mentioned how he got kissed, but he caught himself.
“What was that?” inquired Deb.
“Nothing.”
“Nothing. Nothing at all?”
“Nope.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure.”
“Because by the way you described this filly, I’d say you like her.”
Treble gulped, starting to get nervous.
“Yeah?”
“But not just a like.”
“Huh?”
“You like-like her.”
Treble started blushing around the time Deb mentioned him liking Sweetie, but now he was as red as an apple, and only more color appeared on his face as she continued. His stubborn personality refused to admit his secret directly, though. It always seemed to be a thing with him: that he would want to tell his sister about something special that happened but she would always find out somehow. This was personal though.
“W-What’s that supposed to mean?” said the stuttering colt.
“It’s more than just friendship, isn’t it?” Deb asked, clearly trolling at this point. She should remember to thank her aunt for that minor talent later on.
“N-N-No…”
“You like her like how Mom likes Dad. Which means…”
“I don’t like her! Not that way!”
“Then how come you hugged her and let her kiss you?”
Oh no…
“…”
“Haha, oh come on, don’t act like that didn’t happen,” Deb said with a chuckle. This really rustled Treble’s jimmies, bringing him into a mix of anger and tears.
“How did you know?!” Treble shouted, raising his voice through streaming tears of embarrassment.
“Hey, it’s okay, little brother,” she reassured him. It was clear he didn’t want her to know until he was completely comfortable with the fact. Or most likely not, because he rarely told anypony his secrets. It was probably out of fear that he would regret it in the near future. ______________________________________________________________________________
Now would probably be the best time to explain how Deb knew about the adorable incident that could only be described as “young love”.
Deb had the rest of morning off after classifications and didn’t have her class of the day (music theory, like Treble) until after lunch. As a result of boredom and friends doing other things, she decided to check on her foal brother. She arrived outside Starswirl and found colts and fillies already out. All except Treble. Worried, she went into the building when he heard a conversation between him and another filly. Not wanting to be caught, she cast an invisibility spell on herself and caught a closer look.
He was hugging a filly (a fine one for him, in Deb’s opinion), and was crying into her shoulder. She seemed to be trying to comfort him. Deb could guess that the pink pony from before revealed Mom’s identity again, because Treble was definitely talking about her. She couldn’t hear the exactly conversation going on, only bits and pieces, but she could tell that their Mom was the subject.
It was at that moment that the filly in question kissed him on the nose. It was only for a brief moment, but it was Treble’s first kiss, nonetheless, and Deb couldn’t be more proud. They both blushed, like neither of them intended for that to happen. It was rather cute, and she knew that she would definitely bring it up to him later. Of course, he would be stubborn and say he didn’t do it (he usually found fillies ‘gross’), and that only made him more cute.
She realized that Treble would be walking toward him soon enough, so she retreated downstairs just as the invisibility spell was about to wear off from lack of focus. Treble has a fillyfriend! She was chanting in her head. She couldn’t be happier for her foal brother.
After teleporting near Treble’s dorm and taking a short walk to the dorm itself, she went inside and approached his room. She would originally wait outside his door, cast a vanish spell, then reappear as soon as he was in range. His door, Deb noticed however, was slightly ajar. Now she knew how to make her plan even more successful. With attempted hushed giggling, she went inside and prepared for his arrival. ______________________________________________________________________________
“Hey, Treble. It’s alright to like fillies your age. I’ll admit: I had my eye on a few colts back then.”
Treble looked up.
“You did?”
“Yeah. I even like a few stallions here at Canterlot School right now.”
Treble’s young mind came to a realization. An epiphany...at least, for somepony his age to thought that ponies of opposite sex were gross.
“So it’s alright to like-like somepony right now?”
Deb could tell he was trying to avoid the word “love”. It looked like he wasn’t exactly used to that word if it wasn’t describing the relationship to his mom, dad, or sister.
“Of course. And if you have any like-like feelings toward teachers, that’s fine too. I felt that way with my Equestrian History teacher back at Trottingham. He was pretty hot…”
Treble giggled at the last part, probably because he could relate: he did have a crush on Ms. Smiles from last year. She was nice, and protected him from bullying, and even helped him with homework.
“Well, Treble. It’s getting close to lunch,” Deb made mention of. “Ready?”
“Can we eat with Sweetie Belle?” Treble blurted, then immediately covered his mouth when he realized.
“We could, I suppose.”
Deb giggled at her brother. If only she could get her own coltfriend, but then again, “love” between a young colt and filly was innocent in comparison to an actual relationship. With that, they left the room, Treble locking his door, then walked toward the commons. ______________________________________________________________________________
"Deb?" asked Treble as they were leaving the dormitory. He made sure no one was around.
"Yeah?"
"Something happened to me when she kissed me," he explained.
Deb's eyes widened. He's starting to go through "changes" already? She should probably make sure, later, but not out in the open.
"And?"
"My wings went up and wouldn't move."
Yep. She figured that's what would've happen. Can he even hit puberty this early? She shouldn't need to ask that; her father hit it early before other colts his age did.
