The Un-Popular Ones

by G-Sec

Rating: everyone
Tags: Drama, Dark, Romance, Random, Slice of Life, Sad
Length: 22997

At Cherilee's, all seems normal as can be. That is, until we explore the life of the background students. Not part of the former CMC or even the background foals. We get a look at their reality.

One day, a shy but intelligent colt from Manehattan decides to mover to Ponyville to visit his mother. He was hoping for a quiet time with books and math until he could return home. Little did he know that the teacher had other intentions…

Based on a true story, this young colt has to deal with over coming shyness, meeting new friends and helping others solve their problems. Not a Mane 6 member or even a popular background character. Heck, he's not even cannon. But maybe he doesn't need to be. Him, along with his two newest friends are:
The Un-Popular Ones

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2016-02-29 16:03:43 UTC

The Meeting

"And next up... We have a new student joining us today all the way from Manehattan!" Cheerilee smiles confidently to the class of foals. It was a a warm day outside on a Monday morning. All the foals just got to school right as the bell rang. a cheerful Cheerilee stood at the head of the class. Every row was full of the little ponies except for the back row. Only two other students were there, all of which usually were called "The Out Casts."  Cheerilee stood before each of them with a wide grin across her face. A cool breeze swarmed through the class, causing each student to relax.

"Ladies and Gentlecolts, I would like to introduce you all to our newest student: G-Sec." She moved to one side allowing the young colt to walk up from behind her. He was weak but had a lot of girth on him. He had squirmy legs, barely looking big enough to support his frame. His coat was a deep green, looking like dampened bushes. He wore faded, grey glasses that looked anything but classy. It had scratches, foggy lens and broken arms. he dipped his legs close to each other and shook slowly. He brought his head into his body, almost showing like he had no neck. His mane was completely matted down and shows that there was a lot of time spent on it, along with his tail. He let his dirty blonde mane and tail rest at ease but kept a careful watch on them. His eyes burned a dark orange but tried to avoid all eye contact.

"Well, would you like to introduce yourself?"

He shook his head slowly, despite a lot of encouraging faces.

"Oh no... I think he's shy." Sweetie Belle said.

"Shy? Like Fluttershy?" Apple Bloom asked.

"No... Worse." Sweetie responds.

The other of the formerly known as Cutie Mark Crusader members look at each other sadly.

"We should be his friend." Bloom says.

"But don't try to be to persistent." Sweetie says.

"What?" Scoots asks in a confused tone.

"Nothing... Just, don't try to be too rough. Be calm and collected."

All three of the fillies sit up straight and watch the new colt carefully.

"Uh... H-Hi..." He says in a timid and squeaky voice. He looks down at his hooves, almost dropping his glasses.

"Hi G-Sec." The class recites in unison.

"Would you mind telling us a little bit about yourself?" Cheerilee asks as she sits at her desk, smiling.

"Such as?" He asks in a way to not show any disrespect but still very quiet.

"Well, why did you come to Ponyville?"

"Bullies."

"Um... Okay... What do you like to do?"

"Math."

"Could you please not give word word answers?"

"I apologize."

The class giggles some.

"Alright alright... Take a seat in the back next to Short Fire."

G- Sec nods to her and shuffles past Sweetie's desk. She smiles to him but he keeps his head down until he reaches the back of the class. He takes a desk in the far corner, away from all the foals.

At lunch, the bell rings. All the fillies and colts run out to the yard except for G-Sec. He slowly trots out once everypony has left. Cheerilee stops him at the door.

"Ex-Excuse me ma'am... Would um... It be okay... For me to proceed?"

"G-Sec, listen. I know you're new and I can tell by how you act that you are shy. So, I'm going to give you homework. I know you may not like it but..."

"I apologize for interrupting you Miss. But I would just like to say that I do enjoy homework."

"What? Well... Never mind! That's beside the point. Just, listen. You need somepony to talk to. Somepony to listen to. Somepony to..."

"You need me to find a social associate?"

"No! You need a friend!"

"Oh... Same thing really..."

She facehoofs herself and shakes her head.

"Just... Find a friend. Okay?"

"If you insist..." He nods to her and trots out to the yard.

"Friends.... Friends.... I see no use for them. All that could possibly come from this is distraction from my individual projects." He says to himself, not looking. He accidentally bumps into a pony from behind.

"Hey! Watch where you're going!" He says in a commanding but light voice. The colt he ran into was a young Pegasus. He  stood on a bench and turned to face G-Sec, who was not flank-first on the ground.

"I... I apologize Mister..." He blinks his eyes to gain his sight again. He looked up and saw the colt. His coat was bright orange. It resembled a bright star shinning in the distance. Or maybe a sunset shimmering. His main was a near dark red and was combed up to look confident, as was his tail. He looked at G with a confident expression, as if he was ready to bolt into the sky in wonder. His eyes burned dark like red coal.

"Hey... I remember you... I sit next to ya in class!" He says reminiscing.

"Uh... You do? I apologize. I wasn't really... um..." He curls up some and squeaks to himself.

"Wow. Not much of a talker are ya? Eh... It's cool. You need some help there?" He extended his orange hoof in a gesture to help the fallen earth pony. G-Sec looks up at it scared, wondering if it were a joke or a prank. Once he realized that nothing seemed out of place, he reached up to grab his hoof. The colt pegasus pulled him up with tremendous strength.

"Woah! You're light!" He said as G-Sec reached his hooves.

"Um... I uh... Yeah...." He blushed shyly and hid in his mane.

"Well, if ya ever need anything or somethin', call me."

"i... I um... Apologize for a such retort.... But... But wouldn't I need... Your name?" He peaked out slowly but had a stance to run off.

"Uh... I didn't understand ANYTHING that you said. Except something about my name. Well, I'm Short Fire." He stood in a powerful pose.

"Right...."

"Yeah! Remember me?"

"Not i the slightest. Well... I should... Be going..." He stood and turned back in the direction of the school.

"Wait! You seem lost. You wanna chill with me?" He showed a laid-back pose even though he was tense.

"I don't thi...." He looked off to the school room. Cheerilee was watching him through the window and motioned her hoof to talk to Short Fire.

"Well... I suppose..." He turns back to face Short Fire.

"Nice! We can do hecka things! Like... Like somethin' I like to do is like... Hang Out with all my friends..." He stood on his hind legs with his front legs outstretched wide to show a large amount of ponies behind him, or so he thought. In reality, nopony was behind him.

"Uh... Where?"

"You. You're... My only... Friend..." He sighed sadly and sat on the bench, using his front hooves to cover his face.

"Oh no! Please... Please don't cry!" G-Sec ran over to his side to comfort him. Short Fire was lightly sobbing.

"I don't cry! I just... Sprung a leak."

"Short Fire, please! I'm your friend! Please don't persist!" Short Fire smiled some and looked up at G-Sec.

"You are? Thanks... You know, you're not too bad for a geek." He smiled more, slowly topping to cry.

"And you're not too bad for a cockalorum. " He smiled back. Short Fire almost lost his expression from the intellectual insult.

"Uh... A what?"

"Oh... I apologize. Ponies were a bit smarter back in Manehattan. It basically means a bragger."

"Right... Okay. Well, let's go eat lunch, G."

"G? Is... Is that a... Nickname?"

"Yeah! You ain't had one ever before?"

"No... Thank you!" He smiled, tearing up happily.

"Of course G." He smiled back and they hug, like brothers.

Some time after the embrace begins, they finally end it and pick up their lunches. They walk off into the main courtyard. G-Sec stayed behind Short Fire as he lead the way.

"Hey there Diamond." He winked at her as she turns away, uninterested. He tries this cat-call method on a few more of the fillies until they reach one side where nopony else was: A corner next to the gate.

"The fillies here play hard to get, ya know?"

"No. Not really. I'm more interested in school."

"Right... What do you have for lunch?"

"I have... A Peanut Butter and Dandelion Sandwich with geometrically perfect cut up apple slices and a juice box. You?"

"Wow... Just saying a sandwich and apples would have been cool. I got a cookie, a milk and a sandwich."

"Yummy..." They each pull out their lunch box. Short Fire pulls out a box with Wonderbolts all over them. A Rainbow Dash sticker is on the front, larger than all the others. G-Sec pulls out a plain, silver box with only a sticker on the front to represent an addition sign.

"Wow... You really do like homework, huh?"

"Yeah... And I can tell that you have affection for a famous somepony."

"WHAT?! No!" He blushes hard.

"Yes you do."

"No! She's just a inspiration."

"Really? You're blushing with a high pulse and sweating hard. You have a heart shape in your eyes and the sticker is bigger than all others." He said all of that without looking up, taking a bite from his sandwich. Short Fire sits there in astonishment.

"I... Well I..."

"Am I right?"

"Uh... Maybe... Yeah...."

"Good. I don't think you can fool me all too well. So... Any other information you'd like to tell me before I discover it on my own?"

"Well... There's also... Hey! What's that?!" He yells, pointing off to a crowd of foals.

"Nice try... I don't fall for that stuff."

"No... Seriously. Look! That dude is getting bullied!" Short Fire said with urgency in his voice.

"Okay... Fine.... I'll fall for your trick." He slowly looks up to see a unicorn being bullied by a group of buff earth ponies.

"Sweet Celestia! We have to tell the teacher!" G says in anguish.

"Pff... Teacher? You really are a wuss, huh? I got this!" He says with confidence. He quickly runs over to the scene. G slowly shuffles there behind him.

A young colt unicorn stood under bulging, large earth pony. The huge earth pony was shinny white. He had a look of anger and was holding the small colt by his mane. He had a glisten in his eye of anger and let his shinny, silver mane roll over his face.

"You gonna finally stand up to me Breezey Boy?" He said with a scruffy voice.

"No... I never have... And don't really feel like it..." He said in a timid voice. He was a small and fragile unicorn. He was a deep blue, like the ocean. He had a dark grey mane and tail. He had a small horn that could barely be seen through his mane. He seemed to be resentful but tried not to show any expression. He had a light blue scarf covering his neck in a very suspicious manner.

"Well, then you'll be in a world of hurt!" The bully rubbed his front leg, ready to wind up.

"Hey! Put him down!" Short Fire yelled to him from a distance.

"Huh?" He turned to face Short, not letting the colt go.

"Yeah!" He stood up with a confident stance, although he was towered by the bully.

"Or what?" He looked down at him angrily, huffing out through his nose.

"I'll stop it!"

"Try it!" Short stood back a little to see G.

"Help me out..." He whispers.

"Uh... I suppose...." G slowly walked up to the bully.

"What the... Who is this?!"

"Uh... Excuse me sir.. My name is G-Sec... And... I um.... Could you please... Stop?" He squeaks some. The bully chuckles.

"Uh... How about... NO!"

"Okay..." He walks back to Short.

"What was that?!" Short asks, a bit angrily.

"I got information... Just... I need you to run up from behind him from that exact angle at precisely 9 mph..." He points to an area behind the bully

"Uh... Okay..."

"Then go for his legs..." G walks away to the trashcan and wheels it over to under the bully.

"I'm sorry... Just gotta..."

"Hey! Get this away from me!" He picks up G by the mane.

"Now! Short Fire!" G yells. He had just barely gotten to the spot and immediately ran as fast as he could, barely reaching the speed limit. He jumped at the last moment and kicked the bully in the legs, pushing him into the trash. G and the colt lad on the ground. The trash can rolls into the school building where the bully is promptly met by Cheerilee.

"Woah... G... Your plan worked!" Short walked up excited.

"I know... Just a few simple calculations... Are you okay?" He says to the unicorn.

"Yeah... Not much better than usual..."

"Um... Okay..." G stood up and let Short extend his hoof to pull up the unicorn.

"And who are you, exactly?" Short asks the unicorn.

"My name is Dusk Breeze."

"And who was that?"

"Gemstone. My bully."

"He won't bother you much longer. I've made sure of it." G says, barely showing some confidence.

"Oh really? How?" Th colt asks, barely really paying much attention to them.

"I've sent him to the teacher. She has been watching me and I'm pretty sure she saw the bullying. She'll handle it accordingly."

"Right. Thanks."

"Dude... You seem like... Low. No energy. Like you're goth or emo." Short Fire says, looking at Dusk confused.

"I'm whatever. I just... I don't know." He stands up.

"Uh... You wanna hang dude?" Short Fire asks again.

"Eh... I don't know."

"He just saved you from that bully!" He yells to Dusk, pointing to G, who shy's away.

"Fine... But I reserve the right to not answer you guys sometimes." He says, putting his hoof down, literally.

"Deal. Come on." Short leads in the direction of the benches.

"This is a very tumultuous relationship." G says to himself.

Little did he know, his life would change from the moment he bumped into Short Fire. For better... and for worse.

Dusk Sets

The school bell rung as fillies and colts rushed into their seat, hoping to get there before Cherilee. Luckily, all had made it but one...

"Applebloom?" Cherilee called down the list from her clip board.

" 'Ere!" She waved her hoof in the air, swinging it around happily, looking to the back at the new colt.

"I hope that our plan to get to be his friend works..." Scootaloo says, slightly scared to the other two fillies.

"Shh... Don't give it away..." Bloom whispers

"I don't know... What do you think Sweetie?" No response.

"Sweetie?" They both look to her, staring out to the back of the class at the two colts.

"SWEETIE!" Scoots whispers yells. She snaps her out of her day dream.

"Huh? OH... Hey... Yeah..."

"What were yah doing?" Bloom asks skeptically.

"Nothing!" She goes defensive.

"Are you sure? You were pretty much starin... Do you have a c..." She's cut off by another role call.

"Sweetie Belle?"

"Here!"

"Good... And... Dusk?" She waits, with no response.

"Dusk? Dusk Breeze?" She asks concerned. All the class goes silent.

"G-Sec... Short Fire... Please come to the front." She turns to her her desk. They shrug, not having been paying attention and continuing in their conversation.

"I'm telling you, fillies do NOT look the same inside as colts! They have cooties inside!" Short says slightly angered.

"Nuh uh! All ponies look the same! Cooties are just an imaginary ideology created by young school ponies!" G retorts. They go back and forth until they reach the front. They're both sparring at wits until...

"Colts... Colts... COLTS!" She says then yells after their refusal to respond. They now look sacredly at her. Well, G does. Short tries to look confident.

"Ye... Ye... Yes ma'...ma'am?" G quivers out. All the class had gone silent after hearing Cheerilee outburst. She blushed some and confirmed to the class that everything was okay. They all slowly went back to their conversations.

"Now... Colts... You are friends with Dusk Breeze, correct?" They nod in unison.

"Have either of you seen him today?" They shake their heads in unison.

"Doesn't this trouble you at all?" They shake their heads in unison.

"Can you PLEASE talk to me?" She says, slightly irritated.

"Oh... Sorry... Ma'am... I... Um..."

"Oh stop stumblin'! We ain't seen him. He's a weird colt and I kinda just guessed he'd like get her or somethin'." Short retorts quickly. He is also getting irritated at his teacher's constant rate of questions.

"Colts... He's a bit... Special..." She bites her lip to avoid saying what she actually thought. She would expect a response. And that's exactly what she got... From Short Fire.

"I thought we're all spe..."

"You are."

"Then how is h..."

"It's a different type of special."

"I don't ge..."

"It's too complicated. Just... Find him at recess. Okay?" The nod in unison... Well, almost unison. Short tried to get in unison just to annoy Cheerliee. They walk back to their seats in the back. They look at each other bewildered before Short look down at his notebook. There were notes for his argument and he snapped back into competitive mode. Right as he opened his mouth, the door swung open. But, as the door swung, it accidentally hit the lights. Nopony could see an inch in front of them as Cheerliee had closed the blinds to conserve heat during the cold season. There were step across the wood planks. They creaked under each slow hoof tap. All the fillies hid under their desks along with the stallions. All... Except Short Fire.  His bright skin provided a small light avenue that he could dim at any point. The hoof steps got closer.

Creak...Hoof Tap... Creak.... Hoof Tap...

"Get under the table!" G said with a slightly demanding tone.

"Pssh... Shut up G. I ain't scared of whatever this is." He says confident. That is until...

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!"

The loud scream of a familiar pony was heard. It was of their teacher. Short quickly ducked under the desk with G. The wind was heard as the colts recalled the closed windows. A bit of sunlight came through and in it was a shadow that looked as large as Tirek but with a singular horn. Both the colts cowered in fear until...

Flip

The lights flipped on. The windows were oddly opened and the door seemed to be closed again, except for a light purple hoof blocking the exit. The only pony not under a desk or writhing in pain was the last student: Dusk. Cheerliee managed to pull her hoof free before falling to the ground with a thud.Once all the fillies and colts realized that nopony was in danger, they all came out from under their desks and ran to check on the limping Cheerliee. G and Short exempt and ran to Dusk.

"Wow! What a entrance!" Short exclaimed, using his hooves to mimic what happened, though he failed.

"You were all like 'flip! Lights out!' Then you came in outta nowhere like a rko! Then the windows were like 'pssffssff' (wind sound) and you were there like 'Ha! I am master pony!' And then you put Ms. Cheerliee in a door!" He finally stopped out of his self-made flashback then looked at the astonished look of G. Dusk, however, showed no emotion rather than just depression, as always.

"Uh... Right..." G said and slowly shuffled a few steps back from him.

"I'm here Ms. C." Dusk announced softly but loud enough to hear. He took his seat in the back of the class, normally to the left G. The other two tagged along  as Cheerliee hobbled to her desk. The rest of the class all sat down in their seats as class went on uneventful, despite the fact that Ms. C sat in her chair the whole time. After a quick Fire of a Short class, the bell rang and the young ponies of tomorrow ran out to the yard. All except the 3.

"And then my mom said to eat the Greens but I told her that I was green enough!"  G seemingly concluded a joke, hoping for a few laughs as he held back his own laughter. Neither of the two made any gesture.

"Guys? You get it? Because i'm green... And Greens... are... green..." He gulped, realizing he failed horribly. He hung his head in shame.

"Right... So, where have you been Dusk?" Short asked, trying to steer away from the awkwardness.

"I'd rather not say..."

"OOOOHHHHH... Somepony got a filly friend!" Short teased as Dusk looked at him taunting and blushed, curling up more.

"That's not it at all!" He quietly snapped back. They began to walk again but Cheerilee stood at the door, noticeably missing her hind, left leg on the ground as it was bandaged and to her side.

"Short Fire, G-Sec, go outside. Mr. Breeze and I need to have a chat..." She pointed one hoof outside, showing  no emotion. They complied and as they trotted away, Short made a flexing pose and mouthed 'Don't let her get to you!' The two went out to a bench close to the building but far from the other ponies.

"I wonder for what he's been called." G says to nopony in particular, pulling out his cleaned up, silver lunchbox of mathematics.

"Me too... I... Uh... Hope... He hathened not got trouble?" Short responds, messing it all up as he's been trying to match with G on a verbal level.

"Close..." G smirked, taking a bit of the same sandwich as before. After about 4-5 minutes of eating, there was a sound, sounding of pain and distress. All of a sudden, the school house lit up in bright purplish/blue inside before it all dispelled. The two colts looked to one other before running towards the schoolhouse. They weren't too far so it was a matter of seconds. Short burst through the door as G look at the now pieces of wood, realizing it wasn't even locked.

"What happened?!" Short says alert, looking around. It looked all the same except for the fact that Cherilee was standing now alone in the room.

"He... He's gone..."

"Gone?!" Bot the colts say together.

"What happened?" G asked analytically and searched around the school room.

"Well... We talked. I asked him why he was late. He told me he doesn't want to tell er... didn't want to tell. So, I aked, giving multiple threats. He finally just cried in distress and somehow disappeared!"

"He kinda was a unicorn... Maybe he teleported away?" Short suggests

"No... He is only a colt... No way he could know a spell that advanced..." G retorts, looking for some clues.

"Well, maybe this has something to do with it." Short says, putting his hoof on a squeaky piece of wood in the floor. He pulled it to the side and looked down, his whole head able to fit through.

"Woah! It's like a underground railroad!" Short exclaimed.

"Should... Should we look for him?" G asked unsure, speaking to Cheerilee.

"You should. Not you Short."

"What?! How come?!" Both again said together.

"Well, first off, G-Sec is a much better speaker than you in these types of situations and your temper could easily frighten him and send him off running. Plus, your wings won't fit through." Cherilee explained. It made sense to both, but Short didn't like it. Cheerilee went to her desk and took a flashlight and a piece of string out along with a book on psychology.  She gave the ensemble to G, tying the flashlight to his head and resting the book on his side, tied into the rope.

"Bring him back, but be careful. You don't know what he could be doing or planning. He could be vulnerable or over emotional and powerful." Cheerilee warns. She lowers him down to the pathway. As she closes the boards, Short makes a final comment.

"Hey G! Don't die on me buddy!" He salutes before the board gets covered. He gulps hard and flips on the flashlight.

"Here we go..." And he set off.

He took off on his journey. He assumed it would be a long trek. After all, there wasn't even a guarantee that he'd even be down this hole. He began to mentally ask questions, not to open his mouth because of all the dust and dirt, which he couldn't stand. He found talking to himself kept his mind free.

'Where did he go? What could he have done? Why did he storm off like this? What is out of rage? What could've been so bad to have...'

Creak...

'What was that?!' He continued to keep his thoughts in his head but froze in place. More creaks were heard and something that sounded like some laughing. Or was it sobbing? Maybe it was just somepony scratching the wood. Maybe...

Creak... Sound...

He was scared now. He really wished Short fire were here to be the stupid one and go to check what was this sound and creak above him. But he realized he'd have to be the stupid one. He slowly pushed up against the wood. It slid off as easily as the one in the classroom. He moved it slowly until he could squeeze his head out. And who would he find but...

The janitor. He was wheeling his mop across the wood, causing the sound over him as he stepped on the creaking wood. G felt disappointed for not finding his friend before going back down. He slid in and closed the wood. He continued walking until he reached the exterior of the school. He pushed out a piece of wood holding closed a hole that was colt sized. He now knew that this must be a common escape route for him. Must be why not even Short Fire knew of him, who knew everypony to try to befriend them. He finally was out and looked at the dirt on his coat. He tensed up and shook himself out hard, not stopping until he was completely clean. He walked more after that, looking off of the layers of grass that were pushed into the ground. This he found tedious after what assumed must've been hours, for the shimmering sunset was going down.

"Surely Ms. C didn't want me to go this far." He sighed. Once he figured that there was no hope anymore, he felt himself let out a cute colt yawn before stretching out his tiny legs. He went down to a nearby cave and took a seat on the lip of the cave. His rest wasn't for long, for he jumped up immediately after hearing a sound similar to a growl. He slowly started to walk away from the cave and right before he started to bolt for it, he noticed a shadow. Not a bear shadow. Not a timberwolf. it was a pony-looking shadow. He recognized in before. But from where? He channeled his inner Short Fire and turned on the flashlight. He slowly walked in as the shadow became smaller and smaller until...

"Dusk?"

Dusk Breeze was sitting around the corner of the cave. The growling sound was him sobbing against the wall. His scarf was drenched, showing that he must've been there for hours. G slowly approached, but Dusk hissed away in the manner of a bat. G stayed his distance but kept the flashlight on. He just stood, not what to make of the distance away from the school (about 5 miles), why the board were uncovered, as if this were a normal occurrence, if this was how Ponyville residents acted normally, among a WIDE slew of questions that all went into an ultimate confusion on why Dusk was even here. After a few minutes of just silence from G and more sobbing from Dusk, G decided to sit on the cold stone floor. He still didn't speak but opened his mouth a few times. After what he assumed for 10 hours (really only about 3 minutes0, he tried to figure out his question. His ultimate question was just...

"What?" He, along with Dusk, were confused about the sudden break of silence with jut one word.

"What do you mean 'What?'?" Dusk responded in his sorrowful voice, not looking towards G or away from the wall.

"I... I just... I have so many questions... Just... What are you doing here?" G says, deciding to start off with the most blunt.

"Cry cave." Dusk responded swiftly, again barely giving any much of a reaction.

"Uh... Okay... Why are you.... This cave... Uh..."

"Uh.... Buh.... Crah.... What? Spit it out." He responds in a quick and angry tone.

"Sorry.... Just... Why are you crying?"

"Cheerilee sent you huh?" He shakes his head and scoots deeper into the cave.

"Dusk... I.... I don't mean any trouble... I just... I figured that talking things out works good if you have problems."

"How would you know?" Dusk holds in some tears.

"I just... Uh... Back in Manehatten... I had problems and I talked them out with my counselor. Apparently, there aren't any here as far as I've seen..."

"There aren't."

"Right... So... Yeah. I talked to him and he helped me out with solutions or just calmed me down."

"And what kinda problems could you even have?" Dusk turns around and is starting to loosen some.

"It's nothing much..." He hoofs at the ground and blushes some.

"So... You're trying to get me to open up when you won't?" Dusk asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Well... If I tell you, will you tell me?" G hold out his hoof, looking for a shake from Dusk. He scooted up some to make the contact. Dusk pulled back some.

"I don't wanna shake, but i'll tell you."

"Well...?" He leans his head in, looking for his response.

"You said you'd tell me first!"

"Okay... Well... I guess I had a bully problem."

"Is that all?"

"That's one..."

"What was the bullying full?"

"Intelligence, Size, Shyness, etc. I'm sure you couldn't really understand..." He turns away, blushing more and matching Dusk's sadness.

"I can... It's weird... What about your family?"

"My parents aren't really... It'c complicated... Wait! Don't try to change the subject. What brings you here!" He says, ironically trying to change the subject.

"Grr... I guess a deal is a deal... I'm here just because of some bruises."

"Wha..." He look blankly.

"What's wrong?"

"You... You're.... Here... For bruises?" Dusk pulls away his scarf, showing his neck. It showed red marks along with some cuts and large scars. He moved out of the shadow to expose the rest of his body. There were more cuts and bruises all along him, although not as big or severe looking. G stared, not even sure how to react. He felt a tear in his eye but held it back.

"Wh... Wh.... Why didn't... You tell... Ms. C?"

"Because... He told me not to tell anypony..." He sighs and bows his head, some tears falling to the cold, stone ground.

"Shh... Don't cry..." G tried not to cry some but he was feeling honestly sad for Dusk. He put his hoof up to his cheek. Dusk did not this time shy away from his hoof. He went into his coat and cried harder.

"I... I... I... I want him to... To... Stop!" He sniffled hard before crying harder.

"Shh... It's okay... Just... Just... Tell Ms. C." He offered.

"I CAN'T!" He cries harder, gripping him harder. G flinched at his tight grip and laid a few drops drops down himself.

"Why?"

"Because! He... He... He'll hurt me more!"

"Why don't you tell your family?"

"Because..." He slowly stopped crying and looked up to G with a look of horror.

"Because...?" G looked confused.

"It's my dad..." He sighed hard.

G looked at him, initially not believing it. But Dusk continued his look of sadness and showed no other expression.

"Wha... Honestly?" He tilted his head in an expressionless manner. Dusk nodded slowly, bowing his head. G began to cry, slowly at first.

"See why I can't tell anypony?" He sighs hard, seeming to just give up on crying.

"I... Yeah..." He says between sobs. Dusk looks up to G and hugs him hard.

"Thank you... I've never told anypony..." He begins to cry with G. They stay hugging, crying together. Darkness begins to fall as they still hug. After some period of time, they slowly end their crying, basically for a lack of tears as they fell to the ground. They got up and headed out from the cave.

"Dusk... I'm SO sorry for you... Why haven't you reported him to Foal Protection Services?"

"Because... I'm too scared... What if he gets out?"

"Oh... What... Hmm... Do you have any step parents?"

"Well... He kind is my step parent..."

"Huh?!"

"Well... I'm adopted... And he's my adopted father..." G stopped in his tracks. He almost starts to fall apart again. A few tears drop out from his eyes.

"Wha.... I... You... ADOPTED?!" He cries out loud, causing a few stirs in the distance, some of a few trees ruffling and others of ponies going for late night trots. He looks back to Dusk with a saddened and unappealing face. He stares at Dusk as he looks down. Dusk sighs and lets more tears stream down his face. He nods slowly as G goes to his pony knee.

"Dusk... I... I'm soooo sorry for you! I... I... You... You deserve a real home... I know we met yesterday but..." He stops to take a deep breath to keep himself from crying. Dusk looks to G with a look that shows some hope, going against his stereotypical look.

"But... What?" Dusk asks with big eyes, actually acting like a colt. A young, playful colt who didn't have any cares in his life. But it was momentary.

"If you wanted... We could foster you..." G says, feeling connected to this seemingly anonymous colt. Dusk's eyes got wider as he almost let out a squee of happiness.

"YES!! Please! i..... I would really... really like that." Dusk says, finally putting a nail in his seemingly new role in life. They embraced hard and rose together. They felt some brotherly love together. They started to walk back towards the school, conversing about colt things and G talking about his family.  They reached the school and realized that it was night. Having realized this, they started to walk back into the town until they ran into...

"DUSK?! There you are! I've been worried sick!" A grey coated pony stood in the path of the street. He showed no resemblance to Dusk in anyway, confirming the idea of an adoption. He looked like somepony who'd beat a foal. He had stone black eyes that looked like black holes. He kept an unamused look to his face. His mane and tail kept the same darkness, making everypony think that he was bald at night, for it matched perfectly with pitch darkness.

"Oh... No..." Dusk gave a big sigh as he bowed his head.

"Where were you young colt?!" The larger stallion crossed to be right in front of the colts. His breath smelled of hard cider and alcohol.

"Just... Playing..." He sighs, going back to his old, depressed manner.

"Get your flank over here!" He pulls Dusk to his side by his neck and starts to walk away. G weeps gently for his friend.

"Bye..." He whispers out. The larger stallion ignores him and pulls Dusk harder. They get down the block.

"You know what wrong with this?!"

"I... I was gone..."

"No... You're wrong! You were a mistake not even loved by your family!" The grey stallion rages, throwing Dusk to the ground. They stop in front of an apartment. It looked old and dilapidated. It was very poorly painted and made of bricks. The big stallion pulled Dusk up the concrete steps as he struggles and writhes in pain.

"Ow! Ow... Stop it! You're hurting me!" Dusk cried out. The stallion threw him into the railing, causing him to scream louder. Some lights flickered on from the room under the area on the steps where they were.

"Hey! Quiet down!" A light blue mare called out from her room,  looking out the door. The large stallion came down to her room.

"Stay out of this if you know what's good for you!" He yelled in her face.

"Eww... Use Colgate!" She holds her nose and fans her face from the smell as she promotes herself.

"What?"

"You know... The toothpaste... And my name..." The pony Colgate smiles, showing pearly white teeth. dusk stumbles down the steps to his 'father'. Colgate freezes momentarily. She stares at the abused colt as her eyes twinkle.

"And I don't care..." He grabs Dusk and starts to pull him up. Colgate stops him in his tracks.

"WAIT!" She calls, extending her hoof towards him.

"What?!" The stallion looks back.

"He's my son!"

Dusk and the stallion both look at her with a frozen motion. She runs up to Dusk and moves his mane, staring into his eyes.

"Your... Your... Son?! He's mine!"

"No! He's mine! I had him!" They went on for an argument, causing them to bring in legal matters. But that's... For  another time...

Fire-D Up

A sliver of light shined into a cloud. As soon as it came though, it went onto a bright face. The light was the same color as the face. This was it. Another day. But a good day. Everyday was a good day. The young colt sprung up instantly. His wings fluttered immediately as he got a little off the bed.

"Woah! Mom! I'm flying! I'M FLYING!" He cries out. He allows his wings to keep flaping, waiting for his mom to come see. But he was only met with...

"Oh really? Good job!" She calls out. She doesn't come in, though. Short slowly reaches the bed again, sighing again. He bows his head and slowly trots into the kitchen. He fixes himself some food,  mainly a hayburger and some juice. He ate quickly as his mom flew into the room. She was wearing a Wonderbolts uniform and looked to be talking on something similar to a phone.

"Right... I'll be at the training facility in an hour... Gotta drop off my son... Alright...." She hung up before finally noticing her son.

"Hey mom..." He takes another bite from his burger as his mom sits down next to him.

"So... What were you saying?" She asks, trying to make up for earlier.

"Nothing... Just... Eating..."

"Oh come on... I'm sorry for earlier, but you know how busy I am, having to run the Wonderbolts training facility."

"Yeah... I know... I never hear enough of the 'Oh So Famous Spit Fire'" He says sarcastically, witch was met with a sad face by her.

"Hey, I'm sorry. I should spend more time with you."

"Yeah... I guess... Short responds, taking some bigger bites of his burger.

"You know what? How about after school, me and you do something?" His mom, Spitfire, says in response to her son's disinterest of her any other way. Finally getting the chance to hang out with his mom excites him. He grows a big smile and, seemingly like magic, his mane begins to get bright. Like a yellowish color.

"REALLY?! YOU MEAN IT?!"

"Of course I do."

"Can I invite my friends, too?!"

"Uh... Sure? Who are they?" This question makes Short's mane fade some, as he's told her like 200 times.

Two Nights Ago:

"Hey mom! I met this cool colt, G-Sec and this kinda weird-ish one, Dusk! We're friends!"

"Huh? Oh... Sounds cool!"

"Mom... I told you just yesterday... You know, G and Dusk?"

"Oh yeah! The... Pink one?"

"Wha... NO! That's Diamond Tiara! Green and Blue!!"

"Right... Of course they can come!" She says, trying to avert the subject to avoid hurting her son's feelings more.

"Oh....Kay..." He finished up his burger and gathered his school supplies.

"Alright, my little sunset. Have a great day!" She kisses his forehead but he wipes is and blushes.

"Moooommm..." He whines.

"Sorry... I forgot that you're a big ol' stallion now, huh?"

"Yeah!" He tried to flex his little muscles, causing Spitfire to laugh.

"Of course... I still love you." She smiles. Her words of affection are met with grumbles from her son.

"What was that? I couldn't hear you..." She leans closer.

"I said... I..." His sentence ends in grumbles.

"You know, I think I know just the pony to help you speak..."

"Oh yeah? Who?"

"The TICKLE MONSTER!" She took him to the ground and tickled his tiny, colt stomach. He squirmed hard and laughed uncontrollably. He flailed his hooves everywhere.

"AHH!! StAAAHHHHPPP!" He cried between his laughs.

"Then say it!" She started to got to his hooves, which are his most sensitive part.

"AHH! NOT MY HOOVES! SO... SORRY! LOVE YOU!" He cried. After hearing this, she released him. He breathed hard.

"Good boy... Have a good day at school." She pulled him up and towards the door.

"Heh... Thanks..." He sniffled and left for school. Spitfire pulled out her phone-looking-thingy from her jacket pocket. It was on silent still and had 12 missed calls. She sighed and began to call back.

Short smiled as he tumbles into the street. The sun was barely rising as it shimmered over the Ponyville hills. He was happy to hang with his mom, but he realized that is sucked having a celebrity mom. He did lots (I mean LOTS) of money and met Celestia and Luna, but she ever hung with him. They never ate breakfast together or went to Walt PonyWorld or anything! He only saw her in the mornings and at Wonderbolts shows. He was strong and fast, like a Wonderbolt, but he always wanted be a Royal Guard. He admired the Captain, Shinning Armor. He was really cool. He got to rub hooves with Celestia like every day. And the rush! That wold be sweet. It would get him more friends. All the colts and fillies here said he was self-centered. A jerk. Unattractive. Egomanistical... Or something like that. The filly he had his heart set on even called him narasistalic-something-something... It was too big of a word. He sighed and reached the school.

He looked around to see who was here. There were only a few, for it was so early. Ms. Cheerilee hadn't even come yet. There was this yellow one, with a reddish mane. It was kinda cute and adorned with a bow. He never bothered to learn her name. There was also Pipsqueak. He was kinda cool, but only from the papers. Finally, last and most definitely not least, there was Diamond Tiara. Short knew lots about her, but didn't want anypony to know. He always went for her. IT wasn't for her money, for her mom had lots. A little of it was her looks, but there were a few better. A little white one with a blueish mane. Sweetie Bun? Little Belle? Sweetie Belle? Yeah... That's it. He went for her after some fails with Tiara but she shot him down.He tried to recall what it was about Tiara. A few weeks ago, though, she began to lose her appeal. She was a lot nicer and wasn't as controlling. That's it! He liked her sassy, strong and sweet attitude. Three S's. This was the first time he saw her alone in a while. Her grey friend, Silver Spoon maybe, was still home. This was his moment.

"Whelp, 246 is the luck number." He told himself before showing his stallion strut over to her.

"O for the love of Celestia... Not him..." Tiara told herself as he came over.

"Hey there, Tiara. You look nice today." He smiled.

"Hi there Short Fire." She fake smiled back.

"How're you doin'?"

"Umm... Fine. Silver slept in, so i'm here by myself."

"You know, you don't gotta be alone..."

"You're right! I could go play with The Crusaders." She pointed to the yellow one from earlier, showing Sweetie Belle and her other friend with her.

"I thought you didn't like them!"

"What? Ehh... That was a while ago. Ever since they got nice to me, we're kinda friends." That was it! It was them who ruined his love. They made her nice... But, he could maybe get her now then train her back.

"So... You're nice now?" The question called a blush to Tiara's cheeks, making her remember how she used to be. She hated how she used to be and tried to for get her past. (You know who elese tries to forget their past? Sunset Shi...)

"Uh... Heh... Yeah... I'm nice... I guess..."

"Cool! So, can we go on a date?" He asked bluntly. He was hoping she wouldn't do like she had before. 'What?! Eww... NO!' This bluntness made Tiara get caught off guard a bit, expecting more play up.

"I... Uh... What?"

"Can we, you know, get like dinner or something?" He tried to keep confidence in his voice despite being super scared.

"Short, you've asked like a million times..."

"Actually, only 246."

"You kept count?!"

"Uh... Yeah... Heh..."

"Why would you keep count of heartbreak?"

"I dunno... i just really like you. I wanna remember how far I've come if I get you." His sentence caught her hard. But only for one word. ]if. He never said that. He always said when.

"Di... Did you just say if?" He blushed and nodded. He was showing his true colors, orange and red. But, he was also showing that he's a real colt with feelings and selflessness. He showed total vulnerability and submission, which the old Tiara would've loved. The old Tiara.

"Wow... I thought you were just self-centered."

"Heh... Am I not?"

"No... You're not!"

"So... Um... The date?"

"Short... You're sweet and all but... I... I just can't." This saddens him hard.

"Oh... I see..." He hangs his head and trots away. Tiara sighs and feels bad. He hung his head and began to trot back to whee he and G ate lunch on G's first day. But, on his way there, The Crusaders began to run by. One of them, an orangeish-brown one with a purple mane, accidentally bumped into him, causing them both to fall.

"Hey! Watch where you're going! She said in an assertive tone before getting up and running with her friends. He stared as she ran off. She ran over to Sweetie Belle and that yellowish one. He realized that she was a part of The Crusaders. He stared, thinking of the purple-maned one. Although they only met this one time, she showed attitude, a bit of anger, & sass as she stood. Plus, she was a Pegasus! Her look wasn't too bad either... He spent a good time on the ground, eyeing her flank as the Crusaders whipped around the yard. Tanned and muscular, he flank was a real sig...

"Eh hem!" A clearing of the throat broke his gaze upon the filly. He turned around, only to notice a pair of purple legs. He slowly drifted his eyes up to see...

"M...Mi...Miss... Che... Cheer...Cheerilee!" He stumbled out, quickly standing.

I see you're a big fan of one filly, aren't you?" She commented.

"Wha... I... No..."

"Keeps your eyes on school, not Scootaloo. See me at lunch." She headed to the school room, limping slightly as her leg was still bandaged from the door slam a few days ago. Short sighed and headed inside.

"There goes my week of no detention." He said to himself, going to the door, only to fall into yet another crash that sent him down. He turned to face the clumsy pony and yell at them until he noticed who it was.

"HEY! I told you to watch it, egg head!" A filly with the same purple mane yelled at him. He blushed hard and tried to make coherent words.

"Wha... I... Heh... So..."

"UGH! Forget it! You got me all dirty!" She stood and shook herself clean of the dirt on her. She ran past him to her seat with the other Crusaders. Short grew a huge smile and walked back to his seat in the back. He just remembered: Cheerliee told him her name. 'Scootaloo'. He thought to himself, staring again at the filly. He concentration was broken again when G shuffled in back to his seat. It had been 2 or 3 days since Dusk had been in school.

"Hey there G!" Short called, causing all the foals to look back at them.

"Hi..." He whimpered in response until everypony looked back to the front.

"Any word from Dusk?" Short lowered her voice, remembering G's fear of public.

"No... I haven't seen him since that one time."

"Aww... That sucks." The talk for a good 20 minutes about random things, until the subject of dating comes up.

"Another rejection? How many times has that been?"

"246."

"Phew... That's a doosy of a number."

"How many times have you been rejected?"

"Eh... Not my place to say yet?"

"What do you mean?"

"I dunno. Just, i'm supposed to focus on you."

"Uh.... I... Okay... Well, I found this new filly that I like!"

"Oh really? Who would that be?"

"Scootaloo." He smiled, pointing to the pegasus filly.

"Hmm..."

"She's PERFECT!"

"How so?"

"Seriously?! She's cute, her coat is awesome, her attitude is amazing and she's a pegasus! She's just the best!" The 5 minute bell rings, causing a sigh from G.

"Well, looks like another Duskless day."

"Yeah... Or do we?" Short said, ending his sigh with a smirk.

"What do you mean Sho..." He cuts himself, seeing Dusk standing at the door.

"DUSK!" They both yelled. He started to head to his seat, but he looked different. His face was still kinda depressed, he was bundled up in clothes, but his teeth... They were blindingly white!

"Dude! Where have you been?!"

"Legal stuff. My mom found me and gave me lots and lots of toothpaste."

"Weird mom... We gotta fill you in!" But, the school bell rang, signalling class.

As class drew to an end, the bell rang. Both G and Dusk headed out, for Short told them he'd be inside during lunch. After all the foals went outside, Ms. Cheerliee called him up. Had had been in detention so many times and knew the questions, so he was prepared to answer quickly.

"Do you know why I called you here?"

"Yes Ms. C."

"Why?"

"For staring at a filly."

"Why is that wrong?"

"It's inappropriate."

"What were you looking at?"

"Her flank."

"Right... Now listen good..." Short began to tune her out and nodded a few times to show he was listening. He tuned in to hear the last part.

"And THAT'S why I'm calling your mom." Not his mom. Most moms would yell at their kid. Maybe give them a smack on the hoof. His mom would be worse. His mom would be: Recognized.

"But Ms. C! You can't call my mom!"

"Oh? And why not?"

"Because! She's... At the training site!" He was half telling the truth. She was there but would be home soon after school for their fun day.

"And what is she training for?"

"Well, she's not actually training herself. She's training other ponies."

"For what?"

"The Won..." He drowns out the rest of his sentence.

"The what?"

"The... The Wonderbolts..." He whispered so only Ms. C could hear.

"Wait... Your mother is... Spitfire?" She looked through the files, and confirmed herself.

"Yeah..."

"Sweet Celestia... I'm a HUGE fan! Tell her I said so!" He got caught off guard by her enthusiasm but saw it as an opportunity.

"Sure... Does this mean i'm off the hook? I'll slide you some front row tickets..."

"No Wa... Wait... Front row?"

"Yeah?" He winced, hoping she'd agree.

"Fine... Tell nopony!"

"If you promise not to tell who my mom is."

"Deal!" She smiled. Short returned the smile and headed outside for lunch...

As school ended, all the foals ran home, finally getting freedom. The three colts were the exception, talking as they headed out.

"The arcade huh?" G asked a bit skeptically.

"Yeah! Then we'll get dinner and we can have a sleepover!"

"I'd have to ask my mom..." Both the unicorn and earth pony retort. They headed to G's house first, him insisting to not have anypony else come in. It was weird, was he hiding something? After a few minutes, he came out.

"My mom said it's cool. She's going to a concert tonight, so, yeah. It's cool."

"Nice! Onto you, Dusk!" They walked to the apartments where Dusk's mom lived. He stepped to his house, but the other two colts were to afraid to go in. Well, G was. Short said he'd stat outside to 'comfort G'. Dusk came out not to long later, saying his mom had agreed. Short smiled and lead them to his house. Unfortunately, none of them could get up naturally. Short had planned on this and lead them to some clouds that were tied up to the ground. He released one and all three colts grabbed on. It floated up to the house before settling naturally. They got off. The unicorn and earth pony felt uneasy on the cloud but slowly learned to walk on it. They entered Short's room first and looked around. There were posters of the Wonderbolts, one of the Royal Guard, a few blurry shots of Diamond Tiara,and a big one of... Rainbow Dash. G started to snicker.

"Huh? What's so funny?!"

"Heh... Your posters..."

"Yeah?! What about them?"

"Rainbow Dash..." This caused Short to blush hard. G started to go through his drawers and pulled out some pics of Rainbow Dash in some.. Suggestive poses...

"Hey! Stop doing that!" Short pulled them away quickly. G then looked through her bottom drawer and saw his journal.

"Dear Journal

Today, I found somepony with awesome Photoshop skills. He made me some pictures of my crush, Rainbow Da..."

"You little..." He snatched the journal away but Dusk and G were already ROTFLOL.

"Too funny!"

"SHUT UP!" His mane went dark red and he blushed as hard as possible.

"Calm down, we wont tell anypony of your 'rainbow maned heartthrob'" Dusk said, quoting the journal.

"Grr... I oughtta..." He got cut off by the sound of a door opening. He rushed to the front room and saw...

Soarin.

"Hey little dude! What's up?"

"Hi Soarin." He sighed.

"You're gonna take me and my friends out 'cause my mom is working."

"Uh... Yeah..."

"Ugh... Just forget it!" He stormed off to his room. Soarin shrugged and went off to Spitfire's room.

"You alright Short?" G asked as Short came in, flopping on his bed.

"We're not going out." He huffed.

"What? Why?"

"'Cause Soarin came! Not my mom!" G realized how angry he was and came over, rubbing his head slowly.

"There There... I'ts okay..."

"IT freaken sucks! I just wanna see her so bad!"

"How bad?" A masculine voice with a hint of femininity calls into his room. Short sat up, seeing...

"MOM!" He rushed up to her and hugged her hard.

"I had Soarin trick you. Did he get you?"

"Yeah! Don't do that!" He punched her, but it showed no effect. She played it off though.

"OWW! You're getting too strong to hit me! You're not my little sunset anymore." This cause some snickers behind them.

"Moooommmm... Not in front of my friends..." He whined.

"Sorry. Let's go to the arcade!" She cheered, causing all the colts to her back. She flew them down and they all had a great time. After the arcade, they headed to McRonald's for some dinner. There, there was paparazzi that asked for pictures and autographs, but she declined them, much to the delight of Short.  When they got back to Spitfire's cloud house, all the colts were tuckered out. Short, despite his tiredness, sent in one last journal entry.

Dear Journal,

we finally hang out! Me and my mom! It was so cool! G and Dusk where there too. She didn't let the pap...papa... cameraponies talk to her so we could hang! That was the best part! Despite her famousness, I know she still loves me. It would break her hart to tell her that I wanna be Royal Guard, not Wonderbolts. Oh well... I'll just try to shimmer in my light, like her little Sunset.

P.S. DON'T WIRTE ANY DASH FANFICS! I may later, but that's a story for another time.

-Short

G's Sector

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.

Party Hard

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.

The Seeds Have Been Planted

Dusk woke up on the day, feeling drained. Probably from what his family or friends would have assumed was insomnia. But, he had no clue why he was so drained. Standing, he sighed inwardly. His room was completely empty, showing that he must've overslept a little. It was a Thursday. Why couldn't it be Friday? He walked downstairs to see his mother in her work uniform. His brother, Skye, sat at the table, weaing his normal beanie and staring at his cut up hooves.

"Hey Hun!" Colgate called out from behind the stove. She was making some breakfast. Typical. Eggs and bacon. Nothing super fancy but with a shoestring budget, you have to balance.

"Hey..." Was Skye's only comment.

"Hi..." He sighed again, which caught his mother's attention. Although she rarely had curiosity about his life away from home, he seemed off. She never asked as to ensure that she could grow close to him, mainly because she was gone from his life for so long. But he seemed more groggy than typical mornings.

"How'd you sleep?" Colgate asked at first, trying to approach the subject delicately. She flipped the eggs a bit as she awaited her son's response. Hopefully, he wasn't too bad. Hopefully, he'd be getting better with his depression. But, this was all just hope.

"I don't know. Can't feel when I'm unconscious." Dusk took a seat, looking at the ground. This caught Skye's attention, for he assumed that Dusk would've been happier with his friends. And his mother. And his brother.

"Hey... What's up?" Skye asked to him, taking a rare look up to his younger brother. Colgate took a smile, seeing how Skye actually cared for something. And that something was his little brother.

"Huh? Why do you ask?" Now,  Dusk looked a bit nervous and began to grow sadder.

"'Cause. I dunno. Just thought you'd be happy or something. You found your mom and you've got some kinda cool friends or something."

"Yeah, and I was beaten for a near decade. I'm sorry but I just...feel like I should've killed myself...instead... Not many ponies care." This took Skye and Colgate by surprise. He never usually spoke like this. He wasn't very suicidal since they came back together. What was up with him? Was his body out of tune?

"Hey! Watch yourself. You got a a good mom who actually cooks for you! You got a roof and friends who care! You're saying you're too good for all that?!" Skye asked, getting a bit rattled. Colgate decided to step in, not wanting an all out fight in her kitchen, especially noticing Dusk's face of shock.

"Alright... Calm down. Look, Skye is right. Don't you feel that you have at least 4 ponies who care? 5 if you include Cheerilee?"

"I don't see why anypony wants to. This isn't how life is. You don't go through years of abuse to come back to caring hooves." He covered his face, crying.

"Dusk... shh... We're here..." Colgate said, turning off the stove and going to comfort her son.

"I just know I didn't want you guys to worry all about me like this."

"It's our job as family. We gotta care about you and you gotta care about us." Skye said, again doing something rare as he gave a slight smile. Colgate wrapped a hoof around Dusk, putting her hoof to his face, brushing away the tears.

"Y-you guys....a-are right...I don't know why I n-never accepted help..." He wiped at his eyes, forcing himself to smile.

"Shh... It's okay... We love you Dusky Poo." Colgate said, rocking him slowly in her hug.

"Please don't call me that." Dusk said, slightly annoyed.

"Sorry..." Colgate sighed as she finished their breakfast. Skye finished his pretty quickly as he got his stuff ready for school, along with Dusk. Dusk walked out the door saying bye to his brother, who was attending a different school.  He got to campus, but, for a moment he stopped, feeling a light pain in his chest. But it vanished quickly and he caught up to his friends.

"And that's when I finished him off." G said with a huge, confidence smile.

"No... bucking... Way! That's cool! Oh... Hey Dusk!"

"Hey, how's it going?" He asked. His voice was slightly pained from the chest pain a moment ago.

"Fine. What's wrong with you?" Short asked with a small smirk, patting Dusk on the back

"I...don't know. Hnng." The pain in his chest became worse within seconds. Dusk suddenly had the realization of what was happening. But couldn't speak.

"Dusk? Come on... S-Stop kidding!" Short said concerned as G came up to take a look. He lied Dusk down on the ground, putting his head to his friend's chest. He almost instantly looked up with a face of shock but not too much.

"Get Cheerliee" G said to Short right before Dusk passed out on the pavement.

"Ms. C! Ms. C!!" Short yelled out. Cheerliee trotted out slowly, hold her cup of coffee and rubbing her eyes. She came to the group slowly before seeing Dusk passed out on the concrete. She spit out the coffee in her mouth, accidentally onto Short's face as she ran back inside quickly.

"Oh yeah... totally fine to just spit that in my face..." Short wiped his face, slightly disgusted.

"Shut up, Short. Uh... D-Dusk? You... You okay buddy?" G asked wearily, knowing that there was a slight possibility he wouldn't even answer after passing out.

"I...I... Think....I-I'm....having...a...a..heart...attack..." He groaned out painfully. Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara stood staring in horror. The Crusaders were trying to keep most of the colts and fillies away. The three were just in the center of this large circle of students.

"What?! You're a mere colt! You can't! What the hay!" Short yelled out, not in anger but more in sadness. Dusk stopped responding. He just lay there. Silver Spoon whispered

"No...he...can't be...dead..."

Cheerlie came back out and the paramedics arrived. For the rest of the day, G and Short were stuck in a constant state of shock. They wanted to go see their friend but class was still going, despite the problem. After school, they went to see if Dusk made it. They were scared by the thought of losing a friend to heart attack. When they got to the hospital a nurse sat at a desk waiting.

"Um... E-Excuse me... Ma'am?" G asked carefully. Short tried his best to look confident despite the fear in his heart.

"Yes? How may I help you?" She sounded nice and, though he wouldn't admit it, short found her a little cute. She had a pin on that read 'Redheart." She had a cheery smile despite working in a place where only injured people would end up. Her coat was a bright white and looked almost cartoony. Her mane was pink like bubble gum and her smile was a pristine white, almost like she lived with Colgate.

"Uh... We understand that our friend was... Rushed here today? May we see him?" g said shakily as Short forgot all about his friend momentarily.

"Dusk Breeze, I presume? Recovery room D-9" She pointed down a hall, as to tell them it was that way.

Ahh... Thank you ma'am." His voice was cracking as he gave a quick head bow before beginning to head towards the room. Bus, as he began to trot, he noticed he was missing something. Short Fire. He went back quickly and dragged Short along with him down to the room.

"Hey!" Short protested.

"Our friend may be dead in there!" G yelled out to him. Short didn't have a comeback for that and just followed. As they got down the hall, G knocked on the door and Skye opened it. His face was drenched in tears and he let the two of them in.

"How is he Skye?" G asked, starting to trot to the bed.

"Ask him yourself. Yell if his heart rate skyrockets." Skye shook his head, closing the door behind him as he stood outside.

"Hey bud." G said sadly, pulling up a chair to sit next to his friend. Because Skye talked about his heart rate, he had to have been alive. Dusk looked relatively normal. His coat was slightly faded but he still had the same ol' depressed look as normal. But this time, it was understood by the other two young colts.

"I...can't believe this happened. It's never happened before. I'm sorry this had to happen guys." Dusk said with a light cough. Other than that, he sounded the same as ever.

"Don't be sorry... But good. We just want you to get better. We care for you, bro." Short said with his patented smile. Dusk spit out a few chuckles at this, proving he was happy to actually be alive.

"Dang... We make you feel that good?" Short asked, trying to lighten his friend's mood.

"Sometimes. When you two aren't arguing." Dusk said with a shrug, joining in with the jokes.

"We don't argue! We're not like a married couple!"

"You guys would be an awful couple." The thing that made them shocked was Dusk's big laugh. It sounded so calm and free.

"Y-Yeah! We would! I'd ship you two." Short said with a sly grin.

"Why? I have a crush on somepony else." This almost set a record scratch off in both the other colt's minds.

"What?! You actually like somepony?!" Short gasped out of pure shock. Dusk sighed and knew he'd regret saying what he did next.

"Yeah..." Right as he said that, he was met by a bombardment of short in his ear.

"Oh yeah? Who would that be Casanova?"

" I don't want to tell. Because I don't want you guys to laugh at me." Dusk shifted a bit uncomfortably, scooting away from Short.

"I'll try not to laugh. And G has no sense of humor anyway."

"Hey! I do!" G complained.

"F-fine... It's... It's... Button Mash..." Dusk whispered shyly.

"Who was that?" Short asked, leaning in. G was noticeably curious and leaned in a bit. Dusk gulped and blushed extremely hard before sighing out...

"B-button M-mash..."

"Button Mash? I don't know who that..." Short began.

"Button?! What?!" G blurted out in shock.

"Um... Who is that?" Short asked, totally clueless. Dusk hid a little under his blanket as his words were a little unintelligible.

"W-Well...He's a gamer and my old friend." Dusk said from under the blanket. But, because of the muffled words, Short heard HE and not SHE.

"Huh... Gamer? Sounds lame. I'd think you'd fall for her, G."

"Well, no. We've actually had many completions... Mainly online. I know Button quite well by now. Want me to set you up?" G asked with an honest smile.

"N-no. I want to tell Mash myself, but i can't because he's eyeballing Sweetie Belle and I'm in this hospital."

"Wait... How can... I didn't know Sweetie was like THAT. No wonder she kept declining me..." Short said, seemingly coming to a realization and completely ignoring the facts.

"But you two are more compatible!" G said,trying to bring the conversation back to helping his friend.

"Button Mash is a colt!" Dusk said angrily, poking his head out of the blanket. Short began to process everything in the conversation. It all began to click and make sense. But, there was one thing out of place...

"But... But you're... A colt..."

"Right... Dusk is homosexual." G said, almost like it was obvious.

"Yeah..." Dusk blushed, embarrassed.

"How... How can... How do... HUH?!" Short yelled out in full confusion.

"He likes colts. I mean... It's pretty obvious, really."

"How can you even do that?!"

"Do what?" Dusk popped out again, like a gopher in a hole.

"Like a colt That's just... Weird! Like... How would you guys have a foal? Is it like putting two hot dogs together?"

"Short! No!" G said with an embarrassed face at his friend's lack of knowledge while Dusk gagged at his friend's awful description.

"Last I checked I wasn't planning on using a pregnancy spell on myself."

"But... I mean... That's super creepy. Wow... J-Just... Wow."

"Are you being homophobic?"

"I have NO idea what that means."

"It means you fear homosexuality." Dusk said plainly, hiding a bit in his covers.

"I-I mean... It's not fear..."

"Or hatred of it."

"That's... Closer."

"So you hate me? Oh...well..." Dusk then sighed and began to tear up.

"No! Not you! Come on Dusk! We're still cool! R-Right?" Short asked with an awkward smile, trying to breach the covers.

"Dude... No... That's... That's totally not cool. He can't help it!" G yelled at Short.

"Can you both leave? I need some space." Dusk whimpered, showing signs of his tears.

"Yeah... Come on G. You really set him off."

"Short... I need to talk t you." G said angrily, grabbing him by the mane as they leave.

"Dude! What the hay?!" Short began to struggle to get free of his friend's hard grip.

"Okay... What the hay is wrong with you?" G asked, trying to not let tempers flare, for he knew he was no match for Short. Maybe he could use logic to get to him. Or, maybe it would be no avail.

"What do you mean?! I ain't done nothin' wrong!"

"How could you hate on gays? They've had many years of trial on freedom!"

"So what?! It's just weird!" Skye, who had been outside over the whole time, began to butt in at this point.

"Hey! What's going on here?!" He stepped into the middle of the arguing colts. Short immediately opened his mouth to argue his case. Unknown to him, G was a Master Debater.

"Well Dusk is gay and that's disgusting!"

"It's not a choice guys! He's born that way!" G shouted, mainly to Short.

"I know how he feels right now." Skye said, readjusting his beanie.

"Are... Are you...?" Short began, thinking of passing out from all these gay colts around him.

"I'm ASEXUAL. I get judged for having no preference!" Short stood, confused at this new information then said something he probably shouldn't have...

"So you just hate ponies?" Skye and G both groaned at the same time as Skye covered his eyes.

"Short Fire... Shut up..."

"Why? Is he like... He just doesn't care about others or.... What?Like... And how can you even be like that? What would be oh so scary to not make you wanna ever be with somepony?"

"Wanna know you little prick?! I was raped as a foal by a stallion I didn't know in any way! That's why I'm the way I am. So go back to Tarturus you insensitive jerk!" Skye ran down the hall in tears, disappearing into another corridor.

"Geez... Such a drama king..." Short rolled his eyes.

"You know something, Short? You... You're.... Get out of here!" G began to let his temper flow as he angrily pointed out the opposite corridor that Skye went out of.

"Now you're mad? Whatever. I'm going home." Short huffed, angrily stomping out the hall to simmer down and off into the sunset. Little did any of them know, that'd be the last time they'd see each other in a long time. But, that's a story for another time.

Talents Exposed

“Scootaloo?”

“Here!”

“Short Fire?” There was an eerie silence in the classroom. All the young fillies and colts were expecting to hear a loud ‘here’ from the small pegasus. All were waiting, spare two.

“Absent again? Makes it 3 days.” Cheerilee said to herself, jotting it down in her notebook. She called out to the rest of the students who were left before begining in class.

“Gone… He’s just… Gone.” Dusk said, actually seeming a bit cheery for a bit.

“Yup… Back to Cloudsdale, huh? Looking to follow in his mother’s hoofsteps I suppose.” G said with a shrug. It was a bitter-sweet moment. But, more sweet. Like when you drink lemonade. The first little sip is bitter and sour but after you take time to really taste it, it’s sweet. Cheerilee was right, it had been three days straight since he had left and they’ve gone to give him the Voldemort Treatment. Their old friend, G’s first friend in Ponyville, somepony he felt bad for. After seeing his mom and how she had no time, he thought he was so arrogant and brash so that he’d have self confidence. But, turns out, he was just a douche. Intolerant. Un-Accepting. Non-Negotiable. But, he was a pegasus. What do you expect, especially looking at his heros. His mom, for one. Soarin, his uncle, was another. Even his crush, Rainbow Dash. All three of them can be called brash and mean and rude. But, it’s nothing to change now. He moved back to Cloudsdale with his mom after his dispute with his friends. This went on in both the colt’s minds for the remainder of class and they could only be snapped free of their memories with Cheerilee calling them away from it.

“And finally, don’t forget that we have the Talent Show next Friday. I’ll be looking to see everypony perform.” Cheerilee smiled once class was near the end of the day.

“T-Talent Show?” G said nervously.

“Yeah… She told us about it like, yesterday.” Dusk shrugged.

“Well I was busy!”

“Doing…?”

“Reading. And writing. I’m trying to work on this documentary thing.”

“Well, now you have a Talent Show. Feel good about that.” G immediately raised his hoof.

“Yes?” Cheerilee asked to him.

“Is… Is it mandatory?”

“Unless you have a medical or family emergency, then yes. That’s been a tradition here in Ponyville. Did you never have Talent Shows in Manehatten?”

“No!” G yelled out in a scared manner, having the whole class stare directly at him. This caused him to hide under his desk.

“Now now… Don’t worry… Class Dismissed.” Cheerilee said, causing a whosh of seat to be emptied, leaving only the teacher and two colts alone in the room.

“M-Miss Cheerilee… I… I’m not ready for this! I… I can’t! It’s too much pressure!”

“But G-Sec, you’ve been doing so good! You can now talk in front of the class! You’ve even made a few friends!” Cheerilee smiled, putting a hoof to his face.

“I… I know… B-But… In front of the school?!”

“All of Ponyville.” Dusk chimed in.

“Dusk Breeze! That’s not helpful.” Cheerilee chastised slightly.

“A whole TOWN?! I… I’m gonna have a heart attack! Like Dusk!” G cried out, going into a fetal position.

“That wasn’t funny. It hurt.” Dusk pouted lightly.

“G-Sec, it’ll be fine. All you have to do is sit there and do something. It’s what you do in class, anyway, right?” Cheerilee asked in a consolidating tone.

“But… That’s in the BACK of the class and in front of a few fillies and colts.” G yelled to her, crying.

“Shh… It’s okay… Let me have a talk with your mom.” Cheerilee smiled, picking him up on her back.

“Which one?” G asked with a sniffle.

“Uh… Whichever one.” Cheerilee said with a nervous smile. She didn’t know he had two moms. But it didn’t matter. He just needed some encouragement, unless his parents were just as nervous as he was. This was her biggest fear, and their inability to work with her. Little did she know, she was off by a long shot.

“But mom! I don’t wanna!” The young colt complained.

“Look, you wanted to move from Ponyville! Now you gotta go to school in Cloudsdale!” His mom said back with an unrelenting face.

“But… But a Military School? Can I go to a Flight School?” He cried back, wrapping his wings around his mom’s leg. She merely pushed him off.

“You can’t fly!” She retorted.

“But… But MOM!” He started before getting cut off by an orange hoof,

“Hush! I signed you up! You’re going and that’s final!” The Wonderbolt’s captain said definitively and walked to her own room, leaving her winged son to lie on the ground in his room. It was just like his house in Ponyville. it wasn’t all too hard to really make a clod house. His room was adorned with posters of The Wonderbolts, his uncle, Soarin, and of course, a huge one of Rainbow Dash. Whenever somepony would comment about it, he’d just write it off. But now, he only felt sadness. A military school?! How could she do this? That was so unfair and intolerant of his feelings! But, there was no fighting it. Maybe he’d learn to fly… And do push ups… And gain muscles… And… Well, so many others things, barely any were good. Short just went to his closet and put on his… Ugh… Uniform. It… It looked like a Royal Guard Uniform. It was golden and the shirt looked like a chest plate. The pants were golden as well and were extremely tight, showing his slight calf muscles. Short Fire, the now Cloudsdale resident, closed his eyes, shuttered, and trotted out of his room.

“M-Mom! I’m… Ready.” He gulped as he stood by the door. His mom came out in her Wonderbolt’s uniform, her sunglasses over her eyes, leaving nopony the ability to see through them,.

“Let’s go.” She said coldly, walking out of the house. The young colt kept his head hung as he imagined how much better it was at Ponyville. Maybe he could’ve been accepting of Dusk… Maybe… No! He couldn’t see through it! He was right, not his friends. This ideology was confirmed by the rest of his day…

2 Days Later

“Atten HUT!” Yelled the teacher, making all the colts stand up straight, eyes glued to their ‘teacher’. Short always thought of him as a commander, never a teacher. He wasn’t nice. He was no Cheerilee. He had a rough stubble on that was pure black. His mane was in a buzzcut form, also stone black. His coat was dark grey, almost blending in with his mane. His face looked of a permanent scowl. All the colts around him showed no fear, but Short couldn’t hold it back. His eyes showed sadness and that would not go unnoticed.

“You there! New Kid! Step forwards!” He yelled out in a Drill-commander’s voice. Short wobbily stepped up.

“S-sir yes sir!” He said, trying to remain confident as he did in Ponyville. But with this huge stallion yelling in his face, it would grow exceedingly harder.

“What’s your name?”

“Short Fire.”

“Short Fire what?!” The commander yelled, waiting for the proper response.

“Short Fire… Sir.” Short said, looking dead ahead. He had read the rulebook. He knew the rules. He didn’t like being talked down to.

“What’s your problem?! Miss your mommy?”

“Sr… No sir.”

“Then what in Celestia’s name is wrong?! You stand there and you look like you’re gonna cry! There’s no crying in my class! You get this Short?!” Short… Only his friends ever called jim that. Memories flooded back and his eyes watered.

“Sir… Yes… sir.” He said, holding in his tears.

“Tears?! Down on your hooves! 200 now!” He yelled as short went down. He slowly did his push ups. When he got to 100, the commander made him do another set. This continued until Short just collapsed on the ground, ultimately having done 500 push ups.

“S-ir… I-I can’t! That’s 500!”

“500?! I only counted 500!”

“BECAUSE YOU KEPT F****** RESTARTING!” Short yelled out, his mane turning to literal fire. All the colts and even the instructor backed away slowly.

“Short! Calm down!”

“Don’t call me that! I’m in charge now, GOT THAT?!”

“Oh hell no! Get down here, now!” He yelled, puffing out his chest. This refusal was met with a fire blast straight to the instructor. He fell instantly as the others watched on helplessly.

“I’m teacher now! Got it?!” His wings expanded as he floated up in the air. All the ponies nodded slowly. Fire burned his flank once he settled down a little. And, unknown to him, his cutie mark appeared.  It was a flame with two red swords entered in it. Which symbolized his anger and ruthlessness. This would definitely be used in his life. But, that’s for another time.

The Same Day That Night...

Dusk paced about the backstage nervously. He didn't want to mess up. Although Skye had encouraged him into thinking he'd be able to do this, Dusk could feel the nerves rising higher. He didn't want to do this, but he had no choices. It was either perform, or wind up in detention for uncooperative behavior. He didn't want his mom to be mad at him. Cheerlie bounced to the back, where a few other students were waiting to begin their shows. But Dusk was her target right this moment. She spotted him. Holding a guitar, and pacing nervously. Eyes locked to the backstage flooring. He wouldn't stop panicking. Dusk looked to see her there. He knew what time it was. "P-please, not me next! I can't do it yet!" He half shouted. She sighed. He'd have to go now, or he'd be holding himself until everypony left.

"Sorry Dusk. But you're next. We can't let this be a hectic time, understood?" Cheerlie smiled encouragingly to her fearful student. She then had an idea. She stood, and left. Dusk waited there for her to come back. When she did, Skye accompanied her. His school uniform a bit of a wreck from walking to the auditorium from the opposing end of Ponyville. Dusk ran up to his brother. Who immediately began talking about the situation at hoof.

"Dusk! What's the problem? I thought you were ready to do this!" Skye said with a hint of worry.

"W-well...I don't want everyone to laugh at me!" Dusk tried to explain. Skye suddenly looked serious and dignified. He sat next to his panicking brother. Putting a hoof on Dusk's shoulder he said.

"Don't let what everypony says define you. What really matters is what those who love you and care about you think. I've seen you practice this dozens of times. You can do this, regardless of the measures. I have faith in you. G and Mom do too. So go out there, and nail this like you have so many times already!" Dusk suddenly hugged his brother after a moment of silence Dusk smirked.

"You're right. I got ponies wanting a show. Let's rock!" Dusk bounced up, and brought his guitar on stage. The curtains were shut. He stood like Octavia before her performances. With a short announcement the curtains opened the serious look on Dusk faded to a rock star smirk. He heard a few boos, but he could see his family and his best friend smiling. He wanted them to be happy about his performance. He started to use his guitar. Pretending to barely know how to play. Just to mess with the crowd most of them were believing that he had no clue what he was doing. Until he blasted into a long chain of chords. He flashed a glance at his notable bully, Gemstone, who looked surprised by the suddenly display of skill. Dusk grabbed the mic with his telekinetic magic. Putting it to his mouth, he opened his mouth to sing his first lyrics.

"I can't believe it. I found my talent!" Dusk felt his long uncontrollable depression lifting away. He had found a release for his pain. Music. His cutie mark had appeared in the midst of the performance. Dusk couldn't help but relive that single epic moment where he slammed down hard hitting sound and lyrics of his thoughts into words. Usually it was always held in. He was once a heavy introvert, but once he got the hang of this whole songwriting thing, he was home free. Skye was joyful too. Having his emotions typically deadened by school, he found it nice to feel happy for his once empty brother. G-Sec was fascinated. He hadn't been at Dusk's practices. Meaning he'd never seen him play, he was convinced by the false playing at e start, and half expected him to be dragged offstage. That's when the surprise kicked in, Dusk hit the hardcore notes he was hoping to see. Colgate however, was the most proud of her little son. He had gone from an abused and suicidal colt, to a rock star over the course of just a week. Sure at first it seemed unorthodox for her introverted sons to even consider music. Though upon hearing the first practice. She knew it would get better for them. Dusk looked at his cutie mark. A music note with evening colors radiating the inside of the not. Surrounded by a trio of four pointed stars. He assumed they represented his mom, Skye, and G. Suddenly he heard a voice pipe up in front of him.

"Dusk?" It was Gemstone. He looked upset. Sad. A rare but shocking sight was this look of sympathy.

"Yeah?" He replied calmly.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know what you were going through. I listened in on your song. I figured out the meaning. I'm so sorry." Gemstone apologized pathetically. Dusk smirked.

"It's okay. I just needed to get the words out. You're welcome to hang out with me anytime!"

"R-really?" Gem stared in utter confusion at his acceptance. "No revenge or anything?"

"Course not. I'm not a villain." Dusk laughed.

Gem smiled and bowed his head to thank him. Then ran off to meet up with his family. Dusk looked after him smiling at his new friend. Suddenly a pair of hooves hugged him. He recognized the color of these hooves.

"Button! Seriously?" He giggled as his coltfriend surprise hugged him. Button Mash climbed off.

"Hey, you were awesome up there! No lie!"

"Thanks! Not too shabby yourself!" Dusk exclaimed in a joyous tone. Button had shown of his ability to draw video game ponies and creatures. Dusk personally like Maxine Cloudsfield. Something about a time traveler made him happier. but, their night was not over yet. As now, G-Sec had to go to the stage… [ht]

20 Minutes Later…

“Come on… You know this stuff… You’re G-Sec!” G told himself, standing behind the stage. Cheerilee saw him and smiled. She had talked with his mom and learned of his hidden potential. Back in Manehatten, he was ecstatic. Happy. Silly. Goofy. He was basically Pinkie Pie but as a colt. That explained why Lyra was so crazy. But for some reason, unknown to Bon bon, Lyra was just… Gone. Weird. But, despite that, Ms. C knew he had to let it out. Before him, the former CMC had went out. The ran back behind the stages, wearing their ridiculous costumes.

“Woo! Get’s better every year!” Scootaloo cheered.

“Yeah! Did you see my sister’s face? It was epic!”Sweetie Belle smiled.

“Ah liked it! Mah cousin was out there!” Bloom said with a smile.

“Your cousin? From Manehatten? She came out for this?” Scoots asked.

“Yep! She said she wanted to hang out more with me and mah friends! Ooh! ‘Ere she comes!” Bloom said cheerfully, pointing to the steps leading to the stage. The slow steps up to the stage were instantly recognizable to the young, green colt who was to go next.

“N-No… She can’t be…” He said, growing huge eyes.

“Howdy Babs!” Bloom said happily as her cousin came up to the group.

“That was awesome!” Babs said, going up to the group. G tried to hide, but was called out instantly.

“Oh! Hey Babs! Ah bet ya know my friend ‘ere!” Bloom took her hoof and took her over to her green friend.

“Hold on, hold on. Who is i-” Babs just froze when she saw him.

“H-Hi Babs…” He whispered, slowly shuffling away.

“G-Sec? Hi…” She said back, blushing a bit.

“Um… What’s… Up?”

“Look… I just wanted to say sorry. I… I was really evil and… Well, I was awful to you.”

“I… I can tell.”

“G...Look, I just used you. And, now I feel awful.”

“I’m sure you do.”

“This… This isn’t you.”

“It’s me now! You’ve reduced me to this! Get it? I’m not really in the mood to hear an apology.” He huffed, turning his back to her.

“Wow… Wasn’t expecting that.” Blom shrugged as she watched on.

“Do you remember the old song I used to sing when I was… Well… In love with you?”

“You were never in love with me!” G retorted.

“Shh… I see potential in the wreck here…” She began to sing.

“ He… Is brave… And… Shouldn’t show fear…” G whispered.

“ I love him with all my heart.”

“And… As true love form, we shall never part…” He said back, tears welling up in his eyes. Babs wrapped a hoof around him as they sung together.

Love is in the air and we hold it all.

Filled with determination, we can never fall.

Our love will shimmer and never forget.

As our lives will never reach the sunset. They said together. G cried into her coat as she petted him consolidating.

“I… I missed you Babs!” He cried. hugging her tightly.

“Me too… Can… Can I get a redo?” She smiled to him. He looked up to her, stopping his tears.

“Nope! Screw off!” He said with a smile, pushing her to the ground.

“G-Sec!” She yelled shocked.

“But ghey,. I reached peace!” He smiled, giving his eye a little twinkle before trotting up to the curtain. Ms. C saw this and ran up.

“Are you ready to perform?”

“Oh yeah! Here, play this song.” He gave her a slip of paper. She let her eyes grow wide.

“No! This is too profane!”

“I’ll give an explicit warning! this is the only thing i’ll sing.” He said, feeling cheery.

“Fine…” She said sadly as he went to the mic, causing his small group to clap.

“This is a song for a very… Very special mare. Also, this is a bit profane… so uh… cover the foa’s ears.

“Wait… Profane?!” Bon Bon yelled surprised. Too late. the song played.

Youtube Video

Afterwards, all the adult ponies just stared, having covered their kids ears.

“Thank you!” He said, not caring that he was now considered a thug. He left the stage, going back to his Mom, dusk and his family. his Mom had just a fallen jaw.

“I… I… G… I never… Heard you… Curse…” Bon Bon said, barley closing her mouth.

“Sorry. Just had to let it out.” He smiled, patting Button on the back, who was just sitting with a smile.

“Wow G… Looks like you can do something than just gaming.” Button said with a smile.

“Yeah… But gaming is my main project. I was hoping to get my cutie mark. But, apparently, it’s a story for another time.” He shrugged.

“Sorry for that.”.

“Oh well. C’mon. Let’s go get dinner.” G smiled leading the charge towards a diner. Bon Bon couldn’t close her jaw. dusk had a blush. Button and Skye had huge smiles. Colgate just tried to understand it. but, they went to a restaurant for the first, and ast time, since the party. Why would this be the last time? Well…

“Yeah yeah… Story for another time. we get it!” G said, rolling his eyes.

“Who are you talking to?” Dusk asked, confused.

“It’s just… something stupid. Don’t worry. Let’s go.” With that, they were off.

The End of an Era

Honestly, this story is tying together nicely. I'm not sure what else to re account. How about the aftermath?

Short Fire ran the military school he was put into his whole life as a colt until he graduated. He ran with fear and tyranny, but tried to look generous on the outside. After graduation, he got in a feud with his own mother and eventually took her title as Captain of the Wonderbolts. Spitfire, since then, became a regular Wonderbolt and has harbored hate towards her own son. When Scootaloo graduated from school, they met again and Short Fire opened his feelings to her. She rejected him on the premise that she liked mares instead of stallions and that drove him into a rage. Since then, he's become known as a dictator and is looking to topple over the Princess Sisters.

Dusk and his family were forced to move to Baltimare for financial reasons. Colgate remained a sponsor for toothpaste and is, to this day, trying to get ponies teeth clean. Skye joined her for a while before ultimately opening up and losing suicidal thoughts. He's recently created a help center where he's been working ever since. Dusk finished up school sadly. After graduation from school, Button Mash moved up to Baltimare with Dusk, only to break it off after a year. After that, he went off the map to wherever he knows.

And now... The main event! Well, honestly, this think couldn't have come together without all 3 of them. But, we end with G-Sec. Well, after Dusk left, he felt a slight bit of resentment to the world. But, after the Talent Show, he was able to express himself freely. Imagine Pinkie Pie as a green colt. His mothers stayed together for life and adopted another colt after he left, naming him Yellow Breeze. But, once G-Sec left, he became Equestria well known through gaming and eventually earned his cutie mark: a gaming controller. He went head to head with great players, including Button Mash, ironically. But secretly, he lives a life of depression and an alcoholic. And, in his spare time, he's an author. In fact, he recently wrote a story... Talking about his life as a colt... And his friends... Get it yet? Okay, so i'm G-Sec! Yeah! Based on a true story has never been so real, huh? Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed the story. It got me emotional a lot, but I've learned one thing: Just because you're a background pony somewhere doesn't mean you can't accomplish big things. I loved Dusk and even Short a one point. But, one' thing's for sure: We aren't The Un-Popular Ones anymore.