Star-Crossed

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Giselle picked her pencil up off her desk and snapped it in half. She was completely frustrated by her own boredom, and frankly getting sick of her mundane daily routine. It was unfortunate for the pencil she was in a bad mood at that time; Giselle went full rage on it, reducing it to three piles of wood and an eraser cap. She slumped back down in her chair and continued to complain internally about how she wound up in a pathetic job with no family, and was probably going to stay there for the rest of her life. Her parents had persistently tried to convince her to enroll in the community college, but she turned it down, preferring gouging her own eyes out with a fork over going back to a classroom. Although it seems now her parents were right, Giselle was still convinced it was their fault for not making her more excited about education when she was young. She could pinpoint many other people who she could place the blame on for causing her lack of success, but clearly none of it was her own fault.

Giselle's thoughts were immediately cut off by a raspy, yet powerful man's voice. She turned around in her chair to see the face of her own boss, which at this point was so red it could be chopped into bits and put in a calzone.

"Ms. Davis! I expected your reports in my office an hour ago! Did you get lost on the way there?"

"Uh... No sir... I..." All the while, Giselle was nonchalantly trying to hide the stacks of papers on her desk that had been completely unscathed by graphite. Unfortunately, it was all in vain.

"You... You HAVEN'T EVEN FILLED THEM OUT YET?" Giselle's boss proceeded to throw an angry rant at her about how she never does anything right and is a complete waste of time for the company. He decided then and there to fire her, and within half-an-hour she was walking to her apartment with all her stuff slung on her back, cursing on every step.

She arrived at home and collapsed on her bed. There she laid for a couple hours, yet not once falling asleep, just lost in her own sea of regret. Eventually, Giselle was fed up with thinking about it, and just figured she'd waste all that was left of her. She grabbed her cheap dress and all her accessories and set out for the local bar.

By the time she arrived, the sun was starting to set, and the crowds were just finished piling in for a night of alcohol-driven fun. Giselle simply took a seat near the bartender, yet shut off all the small talk he was trying to start. She took a look around the room, and quickly her eyes set upon a group sitting in her corner booth. However, these was not an ordinary group, this was a group of ponies. It was a regular occurrence for Giselle to see a pony walk the streets, but she had never seen this many at once. Although her parents would always warn her about the dangers of ponies entering human society, she never had a problem with it in particular. However, it did irk her that the human group of guys in the table behind them was harassing the ponies to no end. Giselle wanted to stand up for them, but frankly she couldn't motivate herself to do so. Frustrated by this, she asked for a drink, thinking it would boost her confidence a little. She realized quickly it wasn't working, and downed another. Before long, she was stand to the point where she could barely drunk. All the regrets in her mind slipped away and the only thing she remembered seeing was a blur of burnt orange.

Giselle woke up the next morning slowly, sporting a serious migraine upon opening her eyes. She groaned as her vision slowly came into focus, and revealed to her something there that wasn't supposed to be. Still half asleep, she moved her arm across the furry... thing laying in front of her. The strange feeling caused her to panic and roll out of bed, awakening the thing on the other side of her bed. It rubbed its eyes, and stared directly at Giselle, who at this point had a terrified expression on her face. The thing opened its mouth to speak in an adorable masculine southern twang.

"Hey there!"

Giselle didn't move. She didn't speak. She didn't even flinch. She just stood there, completely and utterly bemused.

He slowly removed the covers from his self, and crawled out of bed. He stared back at Giselle with an equally bewildered expression. Step by step, he slowly inched towards Giselle, maintaining a ponderous expression. He moved his hooves up, with the intention of placing them on her shoulders.

Giselle collapsed to the floor, curled up in a ball, and mumbled "please don't hurt me..." repeatedly.

"Ah'm not gonna hurt you. What would make you think Ah Would?"

"Wh... why are you here?" Giselle looked up at him and mumbled. Upon doing so, she immediately came to the realization that he was completely butt-naked. She looked back down at herself, and realized the same, finally able to think straight. It didn't take her long to put 2 and 2 together, but she hated the 4 that came out of it.

"You... you don't remember at all what happened last night?" He spoke softly, in muddled compassion.

"Well, last night at the bar, you stumbled over to the table me and my friends were sittin' at, and you told off the guys that were bein' rude to us. After that, you started acting all sexy-like, and Ah decided Ah couldn't let such a feat go unrewarded. I drove you to mah house, and gave you yer reward until you were numb. An' from the way you were screamin' mah name, I could tell you were gettin' the full prize." He chuckled. He could tell Giselle wasn't as amused, so he shut up. Unamused didn't even begin to describe it, as Giselle looked more panic-stricken than anything

"Wh... You mean I... And you... gasp what would my parents think? They don't want me even TALKING to any of you, let alone having a freaking one night stand with you! It's all their fault this happened, they should have raised me better! I can't believe..."

The stallion attempted to calm down Giselle, but it was all in vain. She rambled on for the next few minutes, and he stayed and waited it out. Eventually, Giselle settled down, reducing her panicked rant to a couple of heavy breaths. The stallion put a hoof on her shoulder.

"Come on, let's get dressed and I'll go make you some breakfast."

"Ah don't believe Ah know your name," the stallion asked, setting a fancy-looking plate down in front of Giselle and taking a seat across from her. "Ah think Ah may have asked you at some point, but it seems my memory of last night is almost as bad as yours."

"My name's Giselle," she spoke, without making any eye contact.

"Well that's a pretty name. My name's Braeburn, and it's been a pleasure... to meat you." Braeburn chuckled again, yet Giselle still looked unamused. He paused and sighed. "Sorry, Ah'm just trying to lighten the mood a little."

"You're not helping," Giselle still didn't look up. "Nothing you say can hide the fact that... that you're a freaking horse!" She stormed out of her chair and began walking towards the front door.

Braeburn hesitated for a moment, before trotting after her. "Giselle, wait! Ah may not be able to stop bein' a horse, but Ah can at least try to cheer you up. Ah have a hunch that me bein' a horse ain't the only thing on your mind."

Giselle stopped dead in her tracks, and slowly turned around. "You're right, I... I'm sorry. It's just... Oh gosh, I'm turning into my parents now, aren't I?" She made eye contact with him for the first time since they walked downstairs. "It's just that my parents had always told me to stay away from your kind, and I used to just follow them blindly. But recently, I've been curious as to why they hate you. And... I'm almost like... scared that I'll find nothing wrong with you. It will just mess up my entire view on life, you know?"

"Ah understand completely. Ah only give the best a' respects to your parents, but Ah can assure you that we ponies are just like you people. Heck, Ah don't even know what normal horses eat, but Ah can assure you it ain't lemon buttermilk pancakes and perfectly seasoned tomato and cheese omelets." He looked down at the plates, which sat untouched since they were placed on the table. "I give only the finest to my guests of honor."

Giselle, although reluctant to sit back down, found her stomach growling at the gorgeous plate in front of her. She sat back down and ate with a frightening precipitancy.

"Woah... slow down there. Ah didn't spend my time properly spicing my meal just so you could shove it down without tastin' it!"

Giselle swallowed. "I'm sorry. I was just a little hungry."

"Ah'd say, you nearly ate through the plate!" Braeburn smiled. "So, tell me about yourself. You got a job? Friends? A nice apartment?"

"No." Giselle spoke monotonously, as if trying to hide her emotion.

"Oh... Ah'm sorry to hear that. And to be honest, Ah can't say Ah'm much better off. All the places Ah wanted to get a job were taken by guys who actually have fingers. The park Ah'm still stuck at 'sall full 'a people who scoff at me for being a pony. But for corn sake Ah'm just like them! Why can't they just understand that? Ah mean, Ah realize they're scared a' change, and Ah respect that, but that don't mean they gotta be jerks, you know?"

"Yeah, someone should really do something about that. It's not..."

"What about us?"

Giselle nearly choked on her food upon hearing this. "Me? Oh no, I can't do anything. I meant someone who actually matters."

"Giselle," Braeburn spoke softly, in a compassionate tone. "You matter to me."

The room went silent, and stayed that way for quite a bit of time. Braeburn smiled politely at Giselle, patiently awaiting her response. She was shocked by his statement, yet skeptical as well.

"You... you care about me? Are you sure I'm not just another girl to you?"

"Actually, you'd be the first."

"Really?" Giselle was genuinely surprised. "You seem too confident for someone who's only had a guest over once."

"I can't afford this fancy food and china for every day. I was saving it for a special occasion."

"So.. you really think I'm worthy of a special occasion?"

"Of course I do. It's been wonderful having you here."

Giselle smiled. For the first time in a long time, she felt a warm feeling inside of her that she once thought she didn't deserve to feel. She leaned in and gave Braeburn a hug.

She looked up at the stallion.

"Thank you."