It was a dark and stormy night in Appaloosa, and everypony in town was asleep. Well, ALMOST everypony, there was still one farmer stallion who was awake. Storms were the worst for Braeburn; it just rubbed him the wrong way. He barely ever gets sleep when one happens. This storm was no exception. Though, there was a difference with this storm and all of the previous ones from his past. This time, he wasn’t alone.
A blue Pegasus trotted into the house. The pony shook the water off of his fur before he headed back into the bedroom. He took the flight goggles off of his forehead, wiping some sweat off of his brow. He placed them atop of a wooden dresser before approaching a large bump on top of the bed. The pegasus lifted up the blankets. He paused and stared at the horse under covers and sighed.
“Still afraid of storms, Brae?” The pegasus asked.
“Shut up Soarin, they’re scary!” The farm pony whined back at him.
“You do realize that it’s not going to hurt you.”
“Well, I don’t care; storms rustle my skin like I’m being pushed through a field o’ cacti.”
“Sheesh.” Soarin rolled his eyes.
“I don’t need you to start babblin’ about how it’s all just in my head. Nothing will help me get passed my fears. Ain’t anything in Equestria can!”
“What if you were distracted, dude?”
Braeburn took a moment to think. “I guess we could try that…”
“Awesome! Now… how to distract you...” The Wonderbolt tapped his chin. After a moment he spoke up once more. “We could tell stories. Would you like that, Brae?”
The farmer shrugged. “Sure, why not?”
Soarin smirked. This was his best chance to mess with him. He knew many different stories that he could share with his partner, but he knew he wanted to spook him even more. It was a guilty pleasure he had, and it made him chuckle on the inside. Plus, if it got too intense, he could just comfort his lover. His smirk dropped back down to his normal concerned face.
“Okay, check this; I have a story for you.” The pegasus started. “But I warn you, you might not be man enough to handle it.”
“I’m not man enough? Is that a challenge, Mr. Wonderbolt?” The earth pony scowled at his partner.
“Yeah, you’d beg me to stop about half way through it.” His eyebrows shot up and his eyes narrowed giving off a snarky, scrunched up smile.
“Now listen here, I will make it through.” The yellow pony crossed his forelegs with a pout on his face.
“Will you, pretty boy?”
“I WILL make it through, sky pony. A little story ain’t gonna hurt me in any way, shape, or form.”
“Then prepare yourself.” He chuckled softly. An evil look was presented on his face.
“Are you gonna start soon? You’re taking so long that it’s apple bucking season again.” He teased.
“Oh hush now.”
“Never!” He joked. “Not until you tell the story.”
“Alright fine, here we go…”
“Okay, so here is my story. A true story I might add.”
It was a cold winter night. Most ponies stayed indoors at this late hour, but one pony in particular just stayed up into the hung up hours. He wasn’t able to fall asleep, so he thought the best thing to do was to go for a jog. So he put on his scarf and boots and ran out into the darkness. The flurry above him came down even harder, piling up high. This didn’t stop the stallion from wandering.
The stallion continued going forth into the pitch black distance until he reached a dead end. There was a massive tree in his path, and he couldn’t find a way around it. He tried going back the way he came, but another tree was in his way. The stallion scanned his surroundings. Trees were in every direction, and it looked as if they were getting closer with every breath. The stallion started to shake in fear as he clenched his eyes shut.
He heard voices. The voices continued to get louder and louder. Different tones and pitches were thrown around his mind as he cowered behind a rock within the enclosed forest. This was not at all effective as the voices only grew closer. He started to panic, his heart rate rising by thirty beats per minute. If only he could see what was happening, but it was no use, the snow was too thick and the sky was too dark.
All of a sudden, the voices faded out. The stallion stopped shaking; thinking that this was all his imagination and that he finally controlled it. He took a deep breath and fixed his scarf, resetting it upon his maw. The pony walked forward only to find the trees were gone. Since he no longer knew which way he came, he decided to head off into the direction he was already facing. This was a bad decision, due to it getting him more and more lost into these mysterious woods.
The temperature staggered more and more before harshly dropping to below freezing. His teeth started to chatter, wishing he had brought more than just his current attire. Tears began flooding his vision as he collapsed onto a tree stump nearby. He couldn’t make out much ahead of him, but he swore he saw two glowing spheres off into the hazy and dim distance. After blinking, the stallion noticed the orbs growing in size. His eyes shot open as the glowing entities kept growing. He had to look up to continue following them, as the objects got up near his face. As fast as they appeared, they vanished.
The stallion felt as if he was going insane. He yearned to get back home as soon as he could; his mental state depended on it. If only he knew where he was; he didn’t even know if he was in Equestria anymore. The pony just kept trudging through the deep white dust of ice crystals. Soon he felt the ground, or more the lack of it, and immediately shot backwards. It was a cliff. He heard another voice.
“You’re in quite the predicament there, aren’t you mister?” a soft filly like voice asked innocently.
He stuttered when he replied. “Y-yeah, I’m lost.”
“Well that stinks.” The voice echoed louder. “Because you’d think after all this time you would be back, right?”
“All this time?” He was confused.
“Yeah, you’ve been here for quite a while.”
“How long?!”
“45 years.”
“WHAT?!” He jumped again.
“Yep, you got lost 45 years ago. In fact, soon it will be 46.”
“This is impossible. There’s no way I was in here that long. I was only here for a few hours.”
“No, you just didn’t notice the time fly by.”
“How did I even survive that long anyway? Isn’t it impossible to go THAT long without eating or anything?”
“It is impossible to last that long.”
“So how did I make it 45 years?”
“Simple, you didn’t.” She laughed sinisterly. “YOU DIED 45 YEARS AGO!”
Braeburn was shaking even more now. It looked like the poor pony peed himself, luckily he didn’t.
“Well, did you like it?” Soarin asked, fluttering his eyelids.
“THAT MADE IT WORSE!” Braeburn yelled, covering himself with the blankets.
Soarin wrapped his hooves around his boyfriend. He nuzzled him lovingly, trying to show him that everything will be okay. He crawled into the blanket and kissed the farm pony on his forehead. Next, he rested his head on the earth pony’s shoulder.
“I’m sorry, Brae. I was just having a little fun.”
He sighed. “I can’t stay mad at ya.” He kissed Soarin.
Soarin’s cheeks went bright pink as he smiled wide. There was a strange absent of noise. Both ponies noticed it before taking the blanket off of their heads. Braeburn smiled as wide as his boyfriend.
“Finally, it’s over.” He said as he looked out the window to the clear night skies.
“See? I told you that all you needed was to be distracted.”
“Thanks.”
“No problem.” Soarin put his hoof back around his partner.
“I love you.”
Soarin kissed Braeburn before replying. “I love you too.”
