The Un-Popular Ones

The light into a small cottage on the outskirts of town was barely shinning through. The young earth stallion remained asleep, laying motionless in his colt-sized bed; he almost had a dead appearance. His right ear began to twitch suddenly before resting.  Then again. This pattern was repeated until there were some noises ruffling outside his top story window. His ear twitch hard at the sound and he rolled his body to that direction. The ear twitched yet again after hearing a slight...

Tap...Tap...Tap...

The young G-Sec remained sleeping but looked rather uncomfortable. There was a faint voice outside.

"Psst! G! Hey G!" They voice called. The ear twitched but no response.

"PSST!! Hey!" The voice whispered harder. The earth pony squinted. Then, the incessant taping began yet again, but with a little more 'thud'.

Tap,THUD!... Tap,THUD!... Tap,THUD!

"Oh for the love of... GET UP!" The voice yelled, rattling the ear as the colt fell off of his bed. He flat on his tummy and awoke in an instant.

"Huh?! What?! Who?!" He looked around darting, but it was no use, for his glasses were in a case in his drawer. The window slowly opened.

"Finally! I tapped, then 'psst'-ed, then rocked, but you wouldn't budge!" G looked up slowly, but he only saw a blur of bright colors.

"Wha... Who's... That?" He stumbled to get up and leaned on his bed.

"GUESS!" He said in an obvious, sarcastic tone.

"Who?"

"Who would show up at your house on the second floor?" The voice said like a riddle.

"Uh..." He reached in his drawer and put on his glasses. He now saw the figure of a small, yet buff, orange pegasus colt he had met the day before.

"Oh... Short Fire..." He says in disappointment, hoping for somepony more regal or awesome, such as Celestia or a former crown thief.

"Hi there Neighbor!" He says, pulling G to his hooves.

"Hey... How are you?"

"Not too bad. Just bin waitin' for like hours for you to get up!"

"But I don't get up early. And how did you find my house?!" He says, just realizing what was happening.

"Well, remember that sleepover a few days ago? I memorized your house number!"

"You know that makes you a stalker?"

"Well, its not 'cause we're friends!"

"That changes literally nothing. And I was having a good dream!"

"What was it about?"

"Well, i'll spare a few details, but just a few things about Manehatten..."

"Like..." Short scooted in, asking for more details.

"I'd rather not say..."

"Ooooohhhh... It's a filly!" Short smiled.

"Wha... No! It's... Friends!" G blushed hard.

"It's a filly. Don't worry! I won't tell anypony. Whats her name?"

"Short! I'm not telling you! She ended up using me any ways. Just... Let's go to school. Why are you even here?!" G asks, trying to change the subject.

"Because I want to trot to school with you. And find out who this filly is!" He smirked.

"Short Fire... Leave... Now." He sighed, rubbing her eyes.

"I'll be back." He smiled, leaving out the window.

After about 20 minutes, a cream colored pony with a swirled mane of pink and blue smiled, kissing G on his cheek.

"Love you." She smiled.

"I love too, Mom! Wheres Mommy?" Because of his two mothers, he had to address them by Mom and Mommy.

"She's still asleep. Our dinner was pretty riled up. Don't worry, she'll be up after school." His Mom reassured. G smiled back and walked out. He noticed the calm streets. He left early enough to be there when nopony else was on the street. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes for a bit and began to walk. But, he hit somepony not even 5 feet from his house.

"I'm so so..." G began until he opened his eyes and saw who he hit.

"I told you i'd be back!" Short smiled and pulled G up to his hooves.

""Short! Sweet Celestia... I'm trying to go to school!"

"I know! Me too."

"Alone."

"Don't worry. Nopony else will bother us."

"Short! That includes you!"

"Oh well. I'll leave once you say her name!" He smiled wide. G shook her head and tried to ignore him, trotting towards the school. This was a bad idea. Short was persistent, asking "Huh? Who? Who?" while poking him in the side. After getting halfway there, G already felt his side hurt. Once they got there, Short blocked the door from G.

"Short! Let me in!"

"Tell... Me!"

"Why are you so annoying?"

"'Cause I wanna know!"

"Fine! Her name was... Babs..." He whispered, extremely quiet.

"I couldn't hear that! Say it again." Short knew he had won. There was no way G could resist. School was going to start soon.

"Her name was... Babs. Let me in!"

"Babs?! Oh wow!" He fell to the ground, laughing hysterically.

"What's so funny about that?!"

"She was here for a week! And she's so mean!"

"I know.. I found that out..." He sighed, trying to keep in his sadness.

"Oh Celestia... That's too good! You know, her cousin goes here. Ask her out!" He fell over laughing again.

"Shut up Short Fire." He sighed and went back to his seat.

The whole day, Short Fire had heckled him about his love. He wrote him 'love notes' that were signed by 'Babs'. He kept at it and even got Dusk into it, having him poke G too to tell him to look back at Short, who'd heckle him more. As the bell signaled the end of school, G went up to Cheerliee. He knew that Short Fire wouldn't bother him right in front of her.

"Yes G?" She asked, fixing papers up.

"Is it possible to just talk for a bit?"

"Yes, just not today. I have a few plans for today but if you'd like, I could schedule a meeting tomorrow."

"Nevermind..." He sighed, trotting away outside, where he ran into Short.

"Hi G!" He smiled wide.

"Short, you know that what you've been doing all day is bullying, right?" He asked, steaming a bit.

"I'm sorry. I thought it's what you liked!" He laughed out loud again.

"Short Fire, I'm afraid that I can't be your friend anymore." After this, there was a sound of a record scratch.

"Sorry everypony!" The Crusader called out. They were wearing hip hop suits and had a turn table.

"We're being DJs!" Scootaloo smiled before they returned to what they were doing.

"Not... My friend?" He teared up.

"Stop bullying me if you wanna be my friend!" They talked, continuing this back and forth as the Crusaders began to get back to their DJing.

"Hey girls?" Sweetie asked.

"Yeah?" Both other fillies responded.

"We already have cutie marks. We don't have to do any other crazy stuff now."

"Oh... Right." Bloom responded, looking over to the two colts having an argument. She begins to stare a bit unnaturally.

"Bloom? Bloom!" Sweetie shook her hard.

"Ahh! What? Oh... Sorry..."

"What happened"

"Ah... Ah think ah saw him before."

"Well, he's been here a week..."

"But... Before that..." She ran off to her locker. Both the other fillies shrugged and ran after her. When they got there, she was going through a small box.

"Hey Bloom? What's that?"

"It's a box... Babs gave it to me before she left." She responded, going through it more.

"Why are you going through it so frantically?"

"'Cause... Of this!" She pulled out a picture. It showed Babs hugging G hard in a picture. He smiled innocently as Babs showed a big grin, like she was bullying although G's face disagreed.

"Is... IS that G?"

"Yeah... She dated him for a while. She bulled him a lot and was going to apologize but he left before she had a chance." Her eyes was glued to G.

"And... Why do you have that?"

"'Cause... I always liked him..." Bloom blushed hard and stood.

"So... Are you gonna do something about it?"

"Course! Imma go ask 'em out!"

"You don't think that he may a bit weary because of your cousin?"

"Sweetie Belle, stop asking so many questions. Ah don't even know what ya mean."

"Well, she is right... He might think your like her..." Scootaloo says, for once agreeing with the dictionary.

"Oh boy... Ya''ll right! He might... Oh no!How can ah fix it?!"

"I don't know... Just... Be nice?" Sweetie suggested.

"No... Then he might think ahm bein fake! Let's plan this out..." She pulled them into a huddle.

"That's crazy!" Short exclaimed.

"Then we're not friends." G simply huffed. They already began their walk home. Well, towards G's house.

"There has to be another way!"

"You wanted to bully me about love.... Now you face the consequences." G smiled. He wouldn't really stop being Short's friend, but he liked to fell in power for once in his life. It felt good, but only for a bit.

"But... I... That's not fair!"

"I'm done talking. you have two choices. Now i'm going home. You make the decision on your own." They reached G's house. He went inside and locked Short out. He hung his head low and went home.

"Hello? G? Is that you?" A voice called out from the living room.

"Yeah! It's me mommy!" He smiled, setting his stuff down by the door. He trotted in, seeing two ponies watching T.V. together. A mint colored one was in the lap of the vanilla colored one. They had a bowl of popcorn and were smiling to each other.

"How was school?" The vanilla one asked.

"It was fine. Just a few memories of Manehatten is all." He sighed, heading to his room.

"Hey G?" The mint pony called before he went up.

"Yes Mommy?" He turned.

"Apple Bloom, from your class, called and asked if you could hang out tomorrow."

"Apple Bloom? I don't really know everypony there. Who is she?"

"Well, she's yellow and wear that pretty pink bow." The way his Mommy described her, it was like she was straight from a romance novel. Like she was trying to hook them up.

"Well, I um... You know i'm pretty... Shy." HE said, now thinking of all the negative possibilities if this 'hang out' session.

"You sure? She seemed pretty hopeful on the phone..."

"How'd she even get our phone number?"

"Cheerilee has our number." The vanilla one said, Mom.

"Well... Tell her I'd have to think about it." He sighed, going up to his room. He shook his head and went into his room and froze at the sight of it...

"NO! This is awful!" He fell to the ground in tears. He got up and went over to the problem. There was...

"Two Pillows?! Where's my third one?!" He cried in disdain, turning his room upside down looking for it. His cry was head by the pair of mothers who ran up to his room.

"G? What's wrong?" Lyra, the mint colored Mommy, asked.

"My pillow is gone!" Normally, this conundrum wouldn't be much for a normal colt. But he was no normal colt. He had a disease in his brain called OCD. If everything in his room was not perfect, he freaked. He had 3 pillows, 5 pencils, 10 posters, etc. He never would have anything out of place or he'd have a panic attack. But, only certain things kept him on edge. Keeping things on time, not breaking promises, having an even amount of everything. But, cleanliness wasn't his strong suit, as he was pretty dirty. But, both Lyra and Bon bon (Mom) came up to him and held him lovingly as he cradled into a ball.

"Shh... It's okay... We have extra..." Bon said, motioning Lyra to go get an extra from their room. She was off, going to grab it. G rest his head in his Mom's chest.

Eventually, she came back and let him organize his room again.

"Hahaha!Laughter was heard.

"Wha... What are you..."

"Shut up! Look at this! such a small, weak pony! No friends! Get over here!"

"Ow! OW! You're hurting me!"

"Duh! Ahm making an example of ya!"

"But... I thought you loved me" Cries were heard.

"Ahh!" He sat up quickly, looking at his alarm, noticing it was only 3. He rubbed his eyes and grabbed his glasses.

"Not again... Never again!" He shuttered. With that, he grabbed a bag and filled it with his blanket, 3 pillows and a box of food. He also grabbed his piggy bank full of money and sneaked out the house. It was still really dark out and nopony was out. He sneaked off and just walked... And walked... To the outskirts of town. After about an hour, he was tired and out of energy. He flopped to the ground. As he looked up, he saw a sign.

Sweet Apple Acres

The sunset was shimmering down as he noticed some light. As he looked out, there were actually ponies up. A light was on in the house. He dragged himself towards the house. Once he got there, he looked out into the window. Inside, there was a huge, red stallion. He was the tallest. There was a short, old and green one. She seemed like the oldest and was extremely wrinkled. Then, there was an orange one. She was pretty and had a blonde mane. Then, there was the smallest one. She looked just like his Mommy had described. Was that... Apple Bloom? She didn't look so bad, but still... He had just had a nightmare about her. Taking advantage of him. He was just about to run when they began to talk...

"Howdy Apple Bloom. How'd ya sleep?" The orange one said in a southern draw.

"Not too well... Ah was up all night with that dream again..." She rubbed her eyes to try to keep herself awake.

"Oh... Well Bloom, ya know ya gotta get more sleep. Ya got school in a few hours."

"Ah know, Ah know... I just can't stop it!"

"What dream is she talkin' 'bout?" The elder green one spoke up. She had somewhat of a southern draw but also sounded like she'd been in Ponyville since it had been founded.

"She was up all night, dreaming 'bout a colt." The orange one smiled, patting Bloom on her head. Bloom blushed and smiled.

"Well, why don't ya just ask 'em out?" The Granny Pony asked.

"Eeyup." The big red one responded in a deep voice.

"Well, 'casue he used to date Babs..." She said sheepishly. With that, everypony froze, even G himself. He figured that she must've known about how she was in Manehatten, as well as the family.

"Before or after?" The orange one asked. This confused G. Before or after what?

"Before. He never saw 'er when she wasn't mean..." Bloom sighed. Wait! She changed?! No way! She was actually nice now?

"Oh... Ah see why ya can't talk to 'em. Been avoidin' ya, sugercube?"

"Eeyup..." She sighed, copying the big red one from earlier. Well if would've known... Then maybe he would've given her a chance! Well, maybe not. He was still too shy. He wasn't even sure why he was out here. He just ran away from home. His loving mothers, warm bed, organization. Here, there were apples. Lots and lots of apples. They were just organized randomly, not line by line.It was freezing out there. He hated it. But, inside, there was a family. Not his, but why did he end up here? Was he meant to somehow be here? Staring at this filly while she talks to her family about loving him? Maybe the point wasn't to go all staring or nothing. Maybe, just maybe, he was meant to talk to her. Maybe, Babs had changed. Maybe her cousin wasn't like her in anyway. Maybe, he should stop saying 'maybe' and find out the truth. He'd only been there for one week. but, since then, he's gotten rid of a bully, helped a colt find his mom, helped a friend find true love, make friends and forget about worries in Manehatten. He was scheduled to leave back in two weeks but now, he didn't think it was meant to be. Love brought him here. It seemed absurd, especially to a pony of his scientific inquisition, but it was true. Both Princesses had teamed up and spent this night on him, leading him back to his love. It was crazy, as life is, but he knew it. Only now, he had to prove it. In Manehatten, he used to be known for absurdity. He loved to go to parties, pull off pranks, throw snowballs, hang out with friends, do cat calls to fillies, almost break a few bones, ditch school, play in the arcade, and everything. he wasn't smart. He was a C or B student. That's his life. But, the filly who he thought was of his dreams came and smashed him. He was reduced to nothing. He sat in the back of the class. He ate constantly, making him overweight. He began to get knit picky on everything., He went insane. Based on actual analysis, his mind was not fit. He was said to only live to 40. He went through depression. All because of her... But it wasn't too late to change things. He used to love parties. He used to throw parties. He used to break a few walls, primarily the fourth. Now, he had a chance to redeem himself. But if it failed, he would be back to where he started. All ponies making fun of him, forcing him, his Mom and Mommmy to move again. That Baltimare. To Filydelphia. Saddle Arabia. Then, he'd go even crazier. So, was he ready?

"Eeyup." The red one said, almost in fate.

"Ya sure Big Mac? Ah don't want him to reject me..."

"I don't think so." There was a voice. It had no southern draw. It didn't even sound like it was from Ponyville. It was from Manehatten, dialed down a bit by Ponyville language. And at the door of their tiny house was a small colt.

"G-Sec?" Cried the yellow Apple Bloom.

"Eeyup." He said, imitating the red one who shook his head and sat to eat. Bloom quickly ran over and hugged him hard in a tight, loving embrace.

"Ya don't hate me or nothin'?"

"Nah... I reckon ah could give ya a chance." He smiled, giving his best country draw. And, with that, she leaned into him hard, planting him with his first ever...

"Ahh!" He sat up quickly. The sun was rising as he looked at his alarm clock. 7 AM. It was a dream. It was all one big, hopeless dream. How stupid was he? He'd never run away from home. What were the chances that he'd end up at Sweet Apple Acres? He'd never be able to go back to how he was anyway. He was a fool. He stood and put on his glasses, going downstairs to eat breakfast.

As he arrived to school, short was sitting in the back, looking grumpy. G went to his seat, sighing.

"Well I did it! Happy?" Short fumed.

"Yeah... Sure." He sighed in return, placing his head on the desk. He was stuck like this for the rest of the day. Short was still angry and Dusk was more concerned with his problems. As school ended, he parted ways with his friends and went home. While he was walking, he saw the Crusaders on the other side of the street. The one in the middle looked like Apple bloom, based on what his Mommy had described. He thought Hey, maybe I can still go back to normal! Just have to say hi and Boom! I'll be okay! He perked up a bit and, as quickly as he could, ran across the street to meet the Crusaders.

Oh boy! Here we go! Imma... Something was holding him back from running across the street. He turned to see an orange hoof holding his tail.

"Short Fire! Let me go!"

"I'm not gonna let you run in the middle of the street!" He pulled him back onto the sidewalk as the Crusaders walked away.

"Dude!"

"no need to thank me!" He smiled.

"Sometimes Short, I think..." He stopped himself, realizing what happened in his dream.

"What? Did I screw up?"

"No... You stopped me from screwing up. I'm not cut out for some stuff. Let's go to my house. We're having pizza for dinner." He smiled leading Short towards his house.

"Thanks dude."

"Hey, did you really do it?"

"Yeah. I'm not happy about it, though!"

"Why?"

"Because I like walking to school with you! You said I couldn't do that for a week!"

"I was just kidding. Let's do it tomorrow." With that, the two colts walked off.