His first crush was to Pinkie.
And why not? He had known her for as long as he could remember and more, she was fun, she was energetic, she “got” him, she was maternal, she was lots of things he appreciated.
He was, about four when that happened, and didn’t yet know what was love.
All he knew is that, well.....he liked her, in a good way, in fact he liked “liked” liked her, like a triple like. He liked his sister, he liked his mother, and he liked all the grown ups that went through the building, but Pinkie was different.
Then she got with that other grown up which played that funny musical instrument, an accordion or whatever it was called and he stopped liking her
It wasn’t fast or anything, but as Pinkie spent more and more time with the other stallion, he thought less and less of her, he would have liked it to be like pulling a bandage, quick, but painless afterwards, but it wasn’t meant to.
His second crush came after his first kiss, and it was to the same pony. And, unlike Pinkie, who had eventually moved out, he couldn’t just stop seeing her.
Her name was Pumpkin, she had the most amazing smell, from the way she worked at the bakery, she had a nice mane, a cute little body and oh yeah.
She was also his sister.
He had liked her ever since their first kiss, a kiss that came from the not understanding of the adult world, and now that he was both grown up and more astute about the opposite sex, he knew she had been playing him. Pumpkin had always been smart, smarter than him, at any rate, and she was incredibly knowledgeable.
He still remembered the cute little puckering of the lips, the question before “Why do grownups kiss?”, the embarrassment and shrug she had given him “I don’t know” (though he now knew she had known, it was one of the things in one of her many books) and her suggestion of trying.
Prior to that he had caught looks of her, and had eyed her the same way he looked at the fillies in his class, but he hadn’t liked liked her. Pinkie was still too recent on her memory, even if now she was just the one who disheveled his mane and told him how cute he was.
But that kiss changed everything, he felt himself rising upwards, and his mood shot to the moon, well, almost to the moon.
But it definitively grew up.
And after that kiss, well she kept on marching and going about her life, and he....his thoughts were a mess. He had always been sort of sluggish, at least compared to his sister, but now he didn’t have a clue of what to do or say, in regards to her, and every meal was awkward, to him, she eating normally and him doing his best not to stare at her.
Teenager Pound had it hard.
His sister still in his thoughts, something he was incredibly sure it wasn’t right, and was, in fact frowned upon, he did his best to keep her off his thoughts.
Mostly through grunt work, rolling the dough, cleaning the floors, washing his hooves, and then doing more candy.
He just thanked his stars that his parents owned what amounted to a candy shop, so he had the chance to keep himself busy after school.
Of course, his sister, well....she arrived late, but she arrived, just in time for supper, she’d tell of the new friends she had made, and he’d stare at her. She’d wink back, or look at him across the table, and he was sure she knew exactly what thoughts were in his mind, he called those thoughts “Bad bad” ones, naughty, and not worth pursuing.
But the way she kept winking and smile, well....he wasn’t so sure of what that meant, mere brother and sister interaction, something more? The thoughts.....the way they bothered him at night
This all kept on going until Nightmare Night.
Nightmare night, or, as some had come to call it in his time “Halloween” (from Hallows Eve, something he wasn’t sure where it had come from, but stuck, mostly because the threat of ghosts made it 10 times more fun), was a yearly tradition, when he was younger he’d go with his sister and hunt for candy, treats were abound, even when at home. This year, with the way his sister was going, he decided not to pursue and instead hand out candy.
It was boring work, just sit and hand out some candy, but it eased the boredom, and the costumes were actually sort of creative, some dressed as princesses, some as a green scaled dragon that had grown....and there were plenty of awful costumes, those he rewarded with candy all the same, but secretly snickered at, unaware of how bad his own costumes had been some years ago.
Sneaking some candy for himself didn’t hurt either, though he wasn’t supposed to...
And when his sister arrived all that candy he had been eating almost got out in a rush.
He managed to control himself, but the fake fangs, and over applied eye shadow didn’t make much to hide her stunning beauty to him.
“Trick or treat?” – She asked, and, much like a siren, he found himself enchanted. Unlike other brothers and sisters they had never had scuffs, so there was a link of trust. She was alone, unaccompanied, and he cursed his luck in having her all to himself, he pushed the candy filled pumpkin to her as if inviting her to take one or 20 candy pieces.
She snickered as she took some, and he realized his hoof, still inside of it, where he was taking some before, brushed against hers. He suddenly felt very uncomfortable, and he was glad that it was dark, for he was red.
She smiled as she pushed the hoof against his, seemingly delighted to make him uncomfortable, he didn’t like the contact, some of those bad thoughts were returning...
She winked, the same wink she had always done to him and he felt what he at first thought to be candy hit his lips, he instinctively opened his mouth and found something far better...
Pound, after almost 15 years of teasing, was sure, oh so sure, his evenings would turn out to be more interesting, and a lot less awkward, from that point forward.
And he was right.
