The Un-Popular Ones

G woke up a few days later. It was late in the day and he couldn't tell what was going on. But, then realized he was in bed, though he thought today was a school day and quickly hopped out of bed. He grabbed his glasses and got dressed franticly. G went downstairs to find  his teal colored Mommy making coffee.

“Mommy! I’m late for school!” The colt screamed “We have to go now!”

“G? Today is Saturday! Calm down!” She said, leaving the colt calmed.

“Oh yeah… I guess I forgot. Sorry Mommy.” He said looking down, realizing he had gone a bit insane

“It’s okay. I’m not mad. Oh, by the way, your friends left this note here.” She pulled a note off the counter and gave it to him to read.

“Dear G-Sec,

Today is our anniversary for being friends! We have planned a big scavenger hunt! I Hope you like it! Your first stop, is where fillies play in the through days 1-5, then sleep in on the other two, your next note is there! Good luck!

- Short Fire and Dusk Breeze”

“Wow! My first scavenger hunt! Well bye Mommy!” G squealed with excitement. He walked outside, then thought

“Alright, so 1-5 and 2 days not there… Got it!” He took mere seconds to figure it out. He trotted down the street, feeling extremely happy inside but looked mortified on the outside. His social anxiety couldn’t change him, despite how he felt. After a good 10 minutes, the normal travel time, he finally reached his destination. The school playground! It was obvious! Now the hard part: Finding the note.

The note was cleverly hidden under the swing, but the young, green colt didn't notice. He looked and looked, turning over the whole playground except for the swing. After about 20 or so minutes of searching, he took a seat on the swing and pumped himself on it. Boy, was he glad to be there alone. The air from the swing pushed the note in the air and it landed on G’s face, causing him to fall off the swing. When he got up, he thought he had gone blind and screamed. He began to run around crazily, but then he brushed the note up on accident.

“Oh…” He took the note and read it.

“I see you have found the first note! Sweet! Alright now, let’s see... Now you go where the rain isn't controlled by the pegasi, and right on the trail, you will find the next note! Good luck!”

This was an easy riddle and the colt solved it in seconds but then got scared, exclaiming,

“W-Why the Everfree Forest?!” It was the most dangerous place in all of Ponyville! It was one of G’s many fears.

“That's it! They want me to conquer my fear! W-Why do they want me to conquer my fears?! I CAN'T do that! It’s the Everfree! It's impossible! Wait... They said the edge? Oh!” He quickly rose and galloped over towards the forest. As he got closer, he saw less and less ponies. Then suddenly, there were no ponies left. Just him. He got onto the trail and trotted slowly, freaking out by the big trees and the sounds of Timber Wolves echoing throughout the forest. He took a huge gulp, but then the note came in sight, he got to it and snatched it. He turned and ran, faster than he ever had in his whole life. As he ran, he closed his eyes, thinking of a monstrous timber wolf behind him. But, as his eyes were closed, he fell into the Ponyville fountain in front of him. Once he turned around and realized nothing was chasing him, he took a sigh of relief and pulled out the note:

Wow you actually got this note! I hope you didn't get hurt! Great job G! Anyway, so next you go where two unlikely things are sold. It is a common store. Good luck! -Short and Dusk  The colt thought for a minute, which turned into an hour. He’d only been there for a month and never ever went out. As he was in deep concentration, two guards came by, holding the Princess Celestia and Luna on a chariot. They took them into Sugar Cube Corner. Odd for them to be there. A few of the fabled “Elements of Harmony” who were also from Ponyville came out. He began to grow starstruck and even wanted to go and see them. But he was on a mission. As he stared at SCC, he realized it was right next to the Quill and Sofa Store! He finally got it! He got out of the water, forgetting to leave the fountain. It was almost three hours past when he left the house! But fun isn't fun without a little bit of adventure, right? The young colt trotted into the Quill and Sofa store, unfortunately realizing that he was dripping with water. He walked down the aisle, trying to ignore the wetness that clung to his fur. While searching, found his favorite snack! Zap Apple Licensed Spray Candy, Property of the Apple Family. Right as Gary moved the object into his hooves, he found a note on it! How coincidental. Right as G was about to read the note, a worker came up to him and teleported him outside. The worker held a sign with his horn saying “No Water, No Dripping, NO SERVICE!”. He shut the door. He shook his head a bit then finally read what would be the last note.

”YAY! You finally found it! Took you long enough! Anyway, go where you last saw royalty enter.- Dusk and Short. Yeah. We switched it up. You mad?” G chuckled at this, obviously Short Fire’s work as he easily figured out the riddle. It was SCC. He had been, embarrassingly, staring at the Princesses enter for a bit to know it. But why was this scavenger hunt such a short fire? He walked into the bakery and then everyone including the princesses screamed “SURPRISE!”

G fell back, scared from the initial shock.

“WHAT THE HAY?!” He shouted out. He then saw his friends come out.

“Happy one week anniversary!” Short fire screamed from behind the counter

“Yeah… What he said.” Dusk said, popping out from behind the counter as well, actually showing some love and looking somewhat happy for one of the first few times.

“Aww… You guys didn’t have to go through all this!” G said, looking around at all the different ponies.

“Trust me, it was not easy; Setting those notes up, getting the Princess to come. It was very difficult.” Short commented “But we did it!”

“Wow… This is incredible!” G looked around, noticing his moms, his friend’s moms, all of the Elements, and the Princesses. It was truly a sight to behold, especially for a colt.

“Well, what are we waiting for?! LET’S PARTY!!!!” Pinkie screamed, turning on some dance music as G slowly shuffled over to his friends.

“G-Guys… Can we talk in quiet?” He hopped behind the counter with them.

“What’s up?” Short asked confusedly.

“G-Guys… You know how shy I am! T-The Princesses are here! W-What if I screw up or… Or what if I say something wrong?! I could get exiled!” He said frantically.

“Man you’ll be fine! Look at Luna over there, she is, well crazy. Then look at Celestia, a forgiving pony if you’ve ever seen one. Have you ever heard of a exible event recently?”

“W-Well… N-No… And Luna does look quite… Fetching…” He blushed, staring at the dark princess.

“Somepony have a crush on the princess?” Short said, nuzzling him playfully, causing G to blush.

“NO! Shut up!” He crossed his arms and turned away

"Um....you really do..” Dusk said, pointing out due to his observations from the past week.

“As your friends we would understand.” Short said being a bit more kind.

“Short… Are you… Being nice?” G asked, totally caught off guard.

“W-what no! A-Are you crazy!” Short said totally lying.

“Dude… Yes you are! What the heck? Now you make me look like a jerk!” Dusk complained.

“Shut up!” Short screamed. “I am not being nice!” He crossed his front legs and had a face filled with rage. His outburst caught the attention of a few ponies, one coming over to check on them.

“Arth thou okay?” Luna asked. The close proximity to her made G blush harder.

“Yeah everything is-” Short began, seeing G blush. He stopped, thinking about something to say “Yeah, everything is fine, but G here wants to talk to you!”

“Short fire! Shut up!” He whisper screamed.

“Thi? What use am I to thou?” She said, turning to the colt. This left Short and Dusk giggling and trotting off.

“No-Nothing… P-Princess… Just… Them being stupid…”

“Let me tell thou a few things about friends…” She began.

“Wow… Our kids sure pulled off something awesome, huh?” Lyra said. Each of the moms were sitting at a table by themselves. Bon Bon was out dancing, and both Spitfire and Colgate were single, so had nopony to sit with them.

“Yeah… Pretty awesome.” Spitfire smiled, leaning back and taking a sip of cider. Unfortunately, because of the colts, it had to be nonalcoholic, which deterred the Wonderbolt.

“So… This is the first time i’ve ever hung out with other mares when I’ve known my son.” Colgate said, not realizing how awkward it was despite seeming extremely excited.

“Right… So uh… Me too. It feels good to let my guard down.” Spitfire smiled. Though, it didn’t seem much like a let down. She was in uniform with her hair up and sunglasses up. The really only difference was that her phone was turned off. She was done neglecting her son.

"Usually my boys just chat about whatever siblings do." Colgate referred to her children. This confused the other two mothers. They'd assumed Dusk was her only child.

"Um...don't you only have one son?" Lyra asked confused.

"Yeah, we just thought..." Spitfire was stumbling on words. She briefly waved her hoof as if to be looking for the correct sentence.

"Oh, I guess Dusk kept his adopted brother secret. His name is Skye. He and Dusk have a bunch in common. Which is good, they have a fondness for each other." Colgate flashed a bright smile to Dusk. Who just forced a smile.

"Such an innocent colt. Hard to believe he was living with a brutal stallion so long." Spitfire, who'd kept up with the court ruling, was surprised by such actions against a foal.

"Do his friends know?" Colgate was now wondering if Dusk had finally opened up. To which Spitfire shook her head. And Lyra shrugged. It dawned on Colgate that she may have to ask her son to open up.

"I doubt anypony would talk about abuse, especially the victim." Lyra made a convincing point on that note. The three colts walked over to their mothers while Colgate motioned to her other son. Who was sitting alone against a wall.

"Colts, Spitfire, Lyra, this is my other son Skye." Colgate tried to get the colt happy about being here. But after his problems in life. He became socially anxious about his scars both mental and physical.

"Hey..." He barely spoke. His blue colored mane covered his eyes while a dark blue beanie adorned the rest of his head. He had a dark scarf on, similarly to what Dusk normally wore. His eyes looked like a distant stare although he was just looking down. His fur was also dark blue. Some would argue it’s his favorite color but he’d deny it, saying that he had no favorite. Nothing was a favorite to him. There was obvious problems with him. Each of the other mothers worried about how bad their lives were, and how they could come from such a jolly pony like Colgate.

"You have a brother?" The two colts, Short and G, asked in unison.

"Well, yeah..." Dusk responded as calmly as he could.

"Of course. He didn't want to drag me into his friend circle. It's okay..." Skye groaned and walked away. As he left, the colts looked at eachother before the three ran after him.

“Skye!” G called out. The colt turned back to them, showing his blank expression.He looked definitely like Dusk, only a bit older.

“Yeah?” He asked in a sigh, returning back to the group of younger colts.

“Dude… You cool?” Short asked, getting a small hit on the side from Dusk.

“Hush. You don’t know what it’s like.”

“Sorry… Well, we’d love to be your friend! I’m Short fire and this is G-Sec. He has a crush on Princess Luna.”

“Short fire! Shut up! N-No I don’t.”

“Cool… I like her better than Celestia… She’s the dark princess. I guess I relate more or something.”

“Right… Come on, let’s talk!” Short smiled, trying to break the odd tension.

After the colts had left, the parents continued to talk about their kids. Their antics and adventures. The party was a success to most every guest. But the day was still young. So the parents decided to hang out, wanting to leave the colts at Colgate's home. But, because of the dark manner of the house and the fact it was very, very under kempt on the exterior, G refused. They ended up taking them to LYra’s home, but it had some flaws for Colgate’s sons. They didn’t like the bright lighting and preferred the dark. So, Lyra took out one of the light to accomidate their needs. Finally with all the colts settled, the parents were off. When they arrived at the destination, Spitfire's house, they began to talk with Bon Bon.

“So… You two are… You know…” Colgate began, referring to Lyra and Bon Bon.

“Yeah… It’s not super common or nothing but…” Lyra began.

“It just works.” Bon Bon finished for her.

“Well that’s nice.” Colgate smiled.

“What about you?” Lyra asked.

“Nope… 100 % single!”

“But… You have two sons?” Bon Bon asked confused. Lyra was nestled up in her lap as the group of mres sat on Spitfire’s couch. The host was off in the kitchen, getting them drinks. And not that weak, kiddy cider. This was something hard: Wine.

“Well… It’s very… Hard to explain and it’s not something i’m particularly proud of...” Colgate said with a sigh.

“Oh… Okay…” Bon Bon said, making a face of regret.

“Sorry we asked…” Lyra followed up.

“No, no. It’s fine. My stallionfriend left me for a reason… Maybe I gave him too much toothpaste?” She said with a chuckle. Lyra and Bon Bon each had a slightly shocked face before taking a gasp of relief.

“OH! Okay… That makes more sense… I thought you meant…” Bon Bon began.

“Well, something else.” Lyra finished, giving a smile.

“Oh, what? No! NO! Eww… I’m not that desperate! Celestia!” She said with a disgusted face. As she finished, Spitfire came in, carrying them glasses and a few bottles.

“Bottoms up, girls!” She said, hoofing them each a glass.

“So… You guys are… Brothers?” Short asked, looking to break the tension. The four colts were sitting together in a circle kind of thing. Dusk and Skye were on one side, in the darkness, while Short and G were laying in the light. They couldn’t agree on a show to watch, so the TV was off. No agreement was reached on radio, so it was off as well. All that could be done was sitting and talking.

“Yup.” Was the only response given by the older sibling. Short and G each felt uncomfortable but felt inclined to try to know their friend’s brother.

“Cool… Did I tell you he has a crush on the princess?” Short suggested, giving G a blush.

“Yeah…”

“Short Fire! Shut up!”

“Oh you know it’s true! You even got some ‘personal time’ with her.” He raised his eyebrows in a suggestive manner.

“S-So! She just told me about you guys giving me a hard time!”

“And…”

“And… Maybe… Gave me a… Hug…” He said softly.

“See?! You got the hots for Luna!” Short said, falling over laughing.

“Short! I do not!” He yelled back in a huge blush.

“You kinda do…” Dusk chimed in.

“Dusk! Now you’re turning on me?!”

“No… Just facts.” He said with a blank expression, causing Short to laugh harder and G to blush harder.

“Are they always like this?” Skye whispered to Dusk.

“Yeah… They’re some idiots.”

“How do you put up with them?”

“I gotta. They helped me find mom so… I don’t know. I just do.”

“Huh…” Was Skye’s only response, watching the two colts argue back and forth until to their suprise, Short stopped laughing quickly and grew a blush.

“See? Not so funny now, huh!” G said with a smirk.

“Shut up G! You never say that!”

“But it’s true!”

“Hey! What’s going on?” Skye said, calling them back to the group.

“I was just pointing on Short’s crush on…” G began his sentence before his mouth was covered by an orange hoof.

“I’ll throw you out your own window!” Short Fire threatened.

“It’s only fair Short.” Dusk commented.

“But it’s not funny!”

“Short… Let him go.” Dusk said in a threatening voice, nodding his head to his brother. Short, knowing that even he couldn’t win a fight with them two, let G go and went into a pout.

“Good. Now, as I was saying, I remember that Short Fire here has a crush on…” As he was speaking, the door bursted open and entered 4 inebriated mares.

“H-Hey kids… Gots… Gotta…. Go home!” Colgate said, stumbling a bit towards the colts.

“Mom?” Both Dusk and Skye said at the same time, rising to their hooves to help their mom up.

“Hi-y boys! Uh… Colts… Stall… Forget it!” She said, falling into their hooves.

“Oh she got Wasted! Like in Gand Teft At…” Lyra began before collapsing to the couch, followed by Bon Bon on top of her.

“Sweet Celestia… They're all drunk!” G exclaimed.

“Hey! I’m not!” Spitfire said, speaking and walking normally.

“Uh… B-How?”

“Well easy. I’m not a lightweight like those mares. Come on. Let’s go Short.” Spitfire said, taking him on her back and heading out.

“Move G, get out the way!” Colgate said, still drunk and in a drunken tone, pretending to make a song parody. She was in her son’s hooves as they dragged her out the door.

“Uh… See you Monday.” Dusk said as they left. G closed the door behind them, sighing and looking to his pair of moms. They were nestling with each other, playing with their manes and giggling. G shook his head and headed up to his room. The night had fallen upon them as he hooked up his video games. Bit, as he began to play, he noticed the stars in the night diminishing. It was an odd occurrence that caused him to go out and stare. After a few minutes, all that was left was a crescent moon in the distance. He stared at it for a second. But, it grew bigger. And bigger. And bigger until the moon was in his face. G removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes. When he placed them again, all he saw was not a moon, but a face.

“PRINCESS?!” He exclaimed in shock.

“Arth thou happy to see me?” She smiled, entering the colt’s room. The ceiling was barely high enough for the dark princess to stand in but she didn’t mind, stepping in and looking around.

“W-Wha-What brings you here?” He said with full eyes.

“Doth thine ears deceive me or hadth I heard of a crush on me?” She said with a smirk, kneeling down to him. G again had a blush, staring at Luna.

“I… Uh… N-No! Short Fire… H-He’s… He’s an idiot!” He was normally shy, but not this shy. It was hard, his favorite Princess and one that he loved oh so dear right in front of him.

“Hush… Thou musn’t worry of consequences. Truth will set thou free.” She smiled.

“Well… I… Maybe… A little one… But… It’s with full respect!”

“I see…” She said. With that, her horn lit up and she started to decrease in age. She grew smaller and smaller until she was his age.

“Princess!” He stared. She was incredible and breathtaking before but now…

“Doth thou like what thou seeth?” She asked, giving him a blush.

“Uh… UH… Eeyup!” Is all he could muster out.

“Well, let us hope this is more than a single time thing.” She smiled and pulled him in, planting him with a huge kiss. G’s eyes went as wide as possible. If they had widened anymore, they’d pop right out his head. The princess’ lips against his felt like smooth silk. It was everything he could’ve imagined… And more! After what seemed like years to the colt, she let him go.

“P-Pr-P…” He stuttered, just staring.

“Thou musn’t tell.” She winked, pushing him onto his bed. She got up onto the bed with him. He closed his eyes hard to be ready for the kiss again. Only this time, when they opened, there was nothing.

“What?! WHAT?! Luna?!” He freaked out. The lights were out. It was still night. It was a dream.

“Why does everything good that happens to me turn out a dream?!” He complained. He stared out at the moon again, this time only seeing it. No faces of Luna. He turned away and got back into bed. As he fell asleep, Luna was hiding outside his windowsill, again in her mare form. She wiped her lips some.

“He musn’t know.” She smiled and flew off. She wanted to do it again knew she would, but that's a story for another time.