Author's Note

I'm making sure to keep things nice and steady when writing this clopfic so I don't rush it like I did with some of my others, but if there is a flaw in this chapter, go ahead and leave a comment in the section below and I'll fix things up in the next chapter, and as always, thank you and brony on.

A Loyal Friend

You've been out of high school for about a month now and since the start of the new month, you've had the opportunity to finally move into a nice little apartment complex all by yourself. High school was a real pain, but having to deal with your nagging mom is another thing you had to deal with. She'd constantly nag at you for always being locked up in your room playing video games.

During high school, you've had a stuggle with your mom hounding at you for tossing aside your homework and playing video games first. She didn't like this one bit and she had to hide your game system just so you could keep your grades up, and you hated it when she did that. You even hated the fact that she also grounded you off your games multiple times, but that didn't stop you from searching for your games.

You had a nasty habit of finishing your school work at the last minute so you'd have extra time to yourself and have a nice quiet evening to yourself. You managed to graduate high school with barely passing grades and with the money you saved up from your part time job, you moved out of your mom's house and got to move into your brand new apartment complex that was close to the mall. Of course, your mom would constantly call you as if you were still living under her roof.

Around the time you were living in your new apartment, you had been working as a part-time cook at this burger joint over at the mall. It's about a decent walk from where you lived and the music on your phone was enough to help kill time. Of course, your taste in music involved songs from games you loved to play so much, ranging from Kingdom Hearts, Ape Escape, Shadow The Hedgehog, Undertale and the Jak and Daxter Trilogy.

As of right now, you arrived at the mall and went over to the burger joint getting ready to start yet another hard days work, which bored you out of your mind. But you had to do it to be able to stay over at your apartment and you certainly didn't want to move back in with your mom if she was gonna lay her hands on your games, and that annoyed the hell outta you.

You went into the kitchen and pre-heated the grill and started the grease fryer. Your boss is a much more reasonable man to work with, so at least that was something good about your job. Once the grill was done pre-heating, started grilling some patties for a few customers who came to the joint some time after you started your shift and boy were they hungry.

"Thank you high school cooking class." you say to yourself. After the burger patties were done, you looked over the orders and made sure not to be careful with what was suppose to be in each of the burgers since you yourself hate how some people screw up your order once in a while. Thankfully, every customer was happy and got what they ordered and started chowing down on their food.

Just then, one customer want a bacon double cheeseburger with a medium sized orange soda and a side order of medium fries with ketchup. Whoever it was, you could only think they must be extremely hungru, but that just meant a bigger pay for you by the end of the month. You naturally made the burger and fries just the way they wanted it thanks to the patience and hard work.

But this time, your boss wanted you to deliver the food so you could get a little break from the grill after a couple of hours of grilling. The customer who ordered this particular combo, however, was someone you knew all too well from the Battle of the Bands and the Friendship Games. She had megenta eyes and light blue skin with rainbow colored hair and wore a blue overshirt which covered her white undershirt.

Her white undershirt showed a cloud emitting out a rainbow-colored lightning bolt. There was not a doubt in your mind who this girl was, so you said in surprise, "R-Rainbow Dash?!"

She, too, was surprised to see you and smiled at you with her mouth opened wide. "No way! I can't believe it, you actually work here?" Rainbow asks, surprised as well. "Dude, it's so nice to see you!" Rainbow Dash leans in and give you a big hug and noogie on your head.

"GAH!!! Do you have to do that every time we meet?"

"Why not? It's been, what? A whole year since we actually met in person?"

"Yeah, I thought you'd be with your friends, or something. What made you decide to come here solo?" You handed her tray over to her and she gladly accepted.

"Well, since two of my friends are busy hanging out with their boyfriends and the others are busy enjoying their time with their families and friends, I figured I should just lay low and refuel. So what's the deal, you still living with your mom or are you on your own?"

"Psh, I'm glad to be outta there. The woman was getting on my nerves with her constant nagging and always trying to hide my video games from me. It's like she ain't got no respect for me whatsoever!"

"Hey, come on, man. Don't be so hard on her. She was probably worried sick about you. She didn't want you to fall behind or get held back. Take my parents, for example, I had to leave them because they were just too supportive of me and it bugs the hell out of me."

"Lucky you. I wish I had parents like yours."

"You already do, bud. You just need to give your mom a chance to show that she really cares."

"I suppose you're right. I hate her nagging, but I suppose it's one of the many ways my mom shows how much she truly cares about me. But... I just don't know if I can talk to her right now."

"Hey, who said you had to talk to her now? You've still got a job to do and you're still a bit pent up. Just take some time to chill out and in a few days you can chat with your mom. I'll even back you up so things won't get awkward between you two. Okay, dude?"

"Yeah, sure. Thanks, Rainbow."

"No problem, I never leave my friends hanging. Now how about you get back to work. I ain't gonna have a good friend of mine get fired by his boss too early. Good luck, bud." Rainbow Dash grabbed her food tray and took it to her table and started eating up her food. With your boss giving you a break from the grill, you handled the cash register, taking in orders by the people.

The day went by a little quicker, but haven't noticed thanks to your music. Your boss never needed to hound at you to keep on working, but you kept only one earbud inside your ear just in case he needed to talk to you and if someone else called out to you. The whole time you spent working, you thought about what Rainbow Dash had said to you earlier about how your mom would always nag at you only because she didn't want to see you fall behind like how her lazy ex-boyfriend, or in this case, your dad, fell behind due to his drinking problem. You just didn't understand why people are so stupid to choose alchohol over others.

Was your mom worried you might turn into your father? If so, she could've either been on the dot or just plain out of her mind if she thought you'd even think about drinking that disgusting stuff and lived out in the cold streets of one of the most richest city. Whether she would've been right or wrong, you decided that when your boss told you to leave, you'd go and make plans to see your mom again. You didn't care if she was nag at you, because this time, you promised yourself you'd be all ears to her.

At around 5 PM, you walked back home from the mall, going your usual pace and watching the sky change from light blue to orange as the sun began to set over the busy streets of Canterlot City. It was all beautiful to look at, but time was of the essence and it was a pain to be punctual.

You made it back to your apartment and unlocked the door, stepping inside your dark apartment. Most people who came across your apartment thought it was a bit stuffy, but to you, it didn't matter. You closed the door behind you and walk over to your bedroom at the far end of your apartment to the left. You tossed your work clothes onto your bed and put on your normal clothes. You grabbed your work clothes and hung them up in your closet before grabbing your stuff and heading out for another long walk to your mom's house.

Her house was about a 20 minute walk from where you lived. The whole walk there, you kept thinking about Rainbow Dash and all the times she and her group of friends helped save their school, including yourself when you became a mindless zombie because of Sunset's anger and jealousy over not being the princess of the fall formal, as well as when you were under the spell of the sirens.

It was always a mystery as to where those three went after the Battle of the Bands competition. But one thing is certain, Rainbow Dash knew of to rock your world just by being her awesome self, which led you to develop a crush on the former leader of the Rainbooms. Though, somewhere in your mind, you didn't actually think that you were her type of guy.

Before you knew it, your face was getting flushed and you bashed yourself in the head. Mentally, you felt your head ringing like a giant bell. You nearly lose your balance and almost fall to your side as your arms flailed out of control and your eyes moved rapidly from side to side. A few seconds later, you regained your straight vision and your balance and continued walking to your mom's house.

Soon, her house came into view and you let out a sigh in annoyance. As much as you hated what you were about to do, you had to make it up to her after all the times she worried about you because she loves you as much as you love her, too. Within a few simple steps towards the front door, you took a deep breath and knocked three times and waited for her to answer you.

The door opens up within a few seconds and lo and behold, there was your mom. She looked at you with surprise and utter disbelief that you had showed up to her front door.

"Hey mom." you say, looking down. "Hey, is it okay... if I talk to you?"

"Sure, come on in." she replies and steps to her side, allowing you to enter. You walk in and she closes the door and locks it before taking a seat on the couch. You sat down next to her. "So what is it you wanted to talk to me about, are you having issues with work?"

"No mom. Nothing like that." you reassured her. "I've just been thinking about something."

"About what?"

"Well, you know how you always use to scold me for playing my video games all the time and not do my homework and stuff like that?"

"How could I not forget with you cussing at your friends when you were "online gaming."

"Those weren't my friends, mom. Just some egotistical assholes who wouldn't shut the hell up."

"Either way, you know that too much video games are bad for you." she continues on, much to your annoyance, but still, you kept on listenting to her and never broke eye contact. "I know you love your games, but you have to understand that it took a lot of hard work and a lot of money for me to buy you most of the games you have right now and you hardly spent a whole hour on your homework! I do appreciate that you sometimes took the time to keep the house clean, but I still didn't want you to fall behind on school!"

As she explains this, she started to cry a bit. It broke your heart when you saw your mother cry like this and the way she expressed how she really felt about you. Rainbow Dash was right and of course, so was your mom, so you placed your hand on your mom's shoulder.

"Mom. Can I ask you something?"

She sniffs and wipes some of her tears out of her eyes and nods at you. "What is it?"

"Do you hate me? I understand if you do, because I realized earlier at work when my old friend explained to me how much you were just trying to help me, but I was always too upset with how much you scolded me and too lost in my own selfish world that I hardly noticed the pain I inflicted in your heart. If you do hate me, then I just want to say... I'm very sorry for not always being a good son to you."

Tears soon formed in your eyes and you hugged your mom as your whole body shook. She wraps her arms around you and tells you in a calmer voice, "I could never hate you. Because in all honesty, no matter what happens, I will always love you because you're my son. And as your mother, I will always love you."

A heavy stone fell off your heart when she said that. "Mom, if there's anything I can do to make it up to you, just tell me and I'll get it done." you say, a bit choked up.

"Just having your arms around me and the fact that you're working hard is proof enough for me to know that you're at least learning to take care of yourself." she replies, still hugging you. Pretty soon, she began crying new tears, but this time, they were tears of joy.

It felt good to make amends with your mom. You felt like Rainbow Dash's words had helped you out with making things right with your mom. And it was from that day forward, you made a vow that you would start working harder than you ever did before, both for your mom and yourself.