The Only Rosebud in a World of Thorns
Author's Note
This is my first story that isn't completely NSFW, so I'd like some constructive criticism.
I hope you all like this sweet story about a colt who meets the stallion who will change his life forever. Passion is in the air at Luna's "All Boys" Academy :3
Another Rose
"We are alone
It is written
No escape
Our very souls are forbidden
Yet we are the only ones who truly understand
We are the Roses in a world of Thorns"
As his quill zipped across the parchment, Night Razor swept back his greasy, black mane with a sigh as he lay the thoroughly used black notebook back on his nightstand. He walked past the walls covered in posters from various goth rock bands. Just before he stepped out the door he stopped to pick up a switchblade which sat on the end of his bed.
In case I need it... he thought In case today holds more pain....
He walks out to the kitchen of the small apartment. He looks through the cabinets for something to eat. Alas, nothing. As per usual. Guess I'm going out hungry again.
Later that night, Razor went to the local coffee shop with his friend Black Shimmer.
"Hey, do you have some money I could borrow?" Razor asked his red-maned friend once they were in the shop.
"What? You don't have any?" She asked, taken of guard. In all regards, despite her reaction, she wasn't at all surprised. Her friend never had any money by week's end. She looked over at her gray-scale friend who stood out among the other pastel-coloured patrons of the humble coffee shop. "I think you need to find a better job. That place hardly pays you minimum wage, it isn't enough to live on!" Shimmer vented, "I swear, the Princess needs to raise the damned minimum wage or I bucking swear I'll—"
Everypony was looking at them in shock, hearing what his friend was saying, so Razor decided to interrupt her before she said something she might regret. "You don't think I've tried?!" He snaps, "No other place will hire me when all I can put on my resume is that I graduated from that crappy highschool with grades that were mediocre at best."
This seemed to effectively distract the young mare from whatever threat she was about to publicly announce. "Well, have you ever thought of going back to school?" She asked.
"What, you mean like college?" He asked, awestruck, "I don't know, that never really appealed to me... besides, most colleges wouldn't accept me with the grades I had, and even if they did, I couldn't afford the tuition fees, let alone feed myself."
"Hmm.... Good point...." The mare pondered this for a minute before the black mare chimed up, "Well, there was this one place I heard of..." she said, hope in her voice, "and they supposedly will accept pretty much anypony with a highschool degree!"
"Yeah, but there's still the issue of who's gonna pay for it all." He said manner-of-factly, raising an eyebrow at his gothic friend. "Surely, I won't."
"Pft... I'll pay for it!" She jeered. "Also. Don't call me Shirley. It's Black."
"Oh, no, you don't have to do that!" He pleads. "You already loan me so much..."
"Think of it like this," she beckons, "after you're out of school, I'll never have to loan you any money ever again!"
"Ugh... If you really insist," Razor gives in, "of course I'll go. What could go wrong...." He sighed with sarcasm evident in his voice.
"Come on, you'll have fun!" She jeered, "I'll go order our coffee. What do you want?"
"Black." He said simply.
"Oh!" She said, taken aback, then jokingly fluttered her eyelashes as Razor, "You want me? Oh Razor, you're so romantic!"
"I want my COFFEE, BLACK, moron!" Razor snapped. He didn't much care for jokes. Not only that, but their conversation had whipped up a slew of emotions in him, along with fear and doubt. Like he was already there, at the college, all of its stresses included. He wasn't in the mood for nonsense.
Black was taken aback, her pupils actually shrank, then a hurt look crossed her face. "Geez, bro, chill! I'm actually offering to pay off your tuition, so I'd watch what you say before I change my mind!" she turns her back from her friend and leaves to get their coffee.
Oh man, what have I done... he thinks alone at their table. Why am I so mad? This is a good thing, right?
Then why do I feel so upset?
His eyes pop open. He had dozed off for a second. He looked down and saw his knife had flipped open, and was set along his forehoof. More notably, he saw the blood that ran down his arm...
"I'm back Ray-ray! Got your—" she dropped the two coffees in shock. Shimmer had seen the blood, still wet across his wrist. "...Razor?"
She paused for a long time while he stared up at her, her long hair upon her tilted head like a veil against the flurry of emotions building up inside of her. Although he couldn't see her eyes, Razor had sworn he saw a tear roll down her face.
After awhile, she looked up and spoke, her vision clouded by the tears in her eyes, her voice choked by pity. "Will I ever be able to help you?"
Razor looked from her to his arm, only to find he was still cutting. He stopped. "I-I'm sorry..." He said as tears filled his eyes as well. He decided to bail, before she saw him cry.
He ran out the doors of the shop, leaving a wet trail of blood and tears, and let the shadows of the night swallow him...
"STUPID! STUPID! STUPID!" He wailed. Razor was pretty sure the neighbors could hear him as he banged his head against the walls of his small bedroom.
I can't stand it anymore..., he thinks as he feels his way along his arm to relocated his fresh wounds. Still warm. He forcefully shoved the tip his hoof into the widest cut, screaming in pain. The tearing of his flesh was so painful, yet, despite the discomfort, he continued, for it was the only thing that made him feel alive anymore.
Just then, he looked up to the sound of his phone ringing. It was Black. He lets it go to voicemail.
"Hey, it's me, Black," the voicemail plays, "I know you probably didn't mean to hurt me the way you did... but I could tell you were going through some stuff, whatever that was. But hey, I called to say I signed you up for an interview at the college next Sunday. I think it'll be good for you to go there."
Razor looks up at this.
"I know you may not care enough to go, but I hope you do... bye...."
Razor immediately picks up the phone, his rose-coloured aura wrapping around it and calls back.
"What school?" He asks.
"Princess Luna's 'All boys' Academy!" She said with immense joy.
"I'm Dr. Daelis Escry! Are you here for your interview Mr. Razor?" asks a light blue unicorn.
He drew in a sharp breath before he answered, "Let's just get this over with...." He sat down.
"Get this over with? I think you'll find this school to be perfect for you!" He gleamed. "Now, I was looking at your application papers, and it seems you left 'skills' blank. Why is that?"
"Pft... that's really simple, doc. Skill isn't a part of my vocab." He leans back in the chair.
"Come on, everypony's good at something!" Escry exclaims. He pushes his glasses up on his face. "Let's try this. What do you like to do?"
"hmm... play music. Write poetry. Burn stuff. Not much."
"Well here is a notebook," he says, sweeping his dark hair out of the way as his horn begins to glow. He levitates a blue notebook over to Razor, "so let's see some of that poetry!" He waits for Razor to pick up the quil, and eventually he does.
He quickly scrawls something down over the course of a few minutes. This is what he finished with.
When you hurt someone you love
It's like you hurt yourself more
You become nothing more than a frail dove
Your wings dressed in gore
And the only thing you think is that you may never fly again
Escry looks over the poem with shocked eyes. "I-Is this original?"
"Probably. Never heard it before."
"That's all I need to see! You'll do great in our literature courses and you could be a great addition to our competitive writing team! Welcome aboard!"
"Wait wut?" Razor said confused. "Just like that?"
"Well, Princess Luna tells us not to take in students just because of good marks. You're really talented! Plus, you're adorbs!" Escry jeered with a wink.
Razor caught that, and retaliated. "What did you say?"
"I said you're cute, stupid." Escry said simply, eying him absentmindedly.
"I'm... I'm just gonna leave..."
"Okay snookums!" Escry chimed, "Term starts next month on the 16th, don't be late! I'm glad I'll get to be your Advanced Alchemy Professor AND your competitive writing coach!"
This guy is crazy! Maybe I shouldn't go.... Suddenly, he remembers the way Black cried, and changed his mind. "Fine I'll be there," He says, grimly, "but know this. That poem was about a very special girl. I've known her my whole life, and I love her. Don't get any ideas, imbecile!" And with that he left, ready to get as far away as possible, as soon as possible.
A month passed by surprisingly quickly. It was Tuesday when Razor drove up onto the campus, he was still in awe by how easy it was to get in. He had recieved his schedule for the term around a week before—
Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday:
9:00 - 10:30 a.m. – Saddle Arabian Literature
12:00 - 12:30 p.m. – Competitive Writing Team Meeting
4:00 - 5:00 p.m. – Studio Art
~
Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday:
8:00 - 9:30 a.m. – Advanced Alchemy
1:00 - 3:00 p.m. – Quantum Theoretics
5:00 - 6:00 – Advanced Magic
You'd think that Razor's course sheet seemed empty, and a bit all "over the place", but for Razor, it was perfect. He wasn't real comfortable with the idea of college, and Black knew this when she signed him up. He barely even knew what he wanted to do with his life. So his first semester courses would be purely experimental for the dark colt.
Razor knew very well that the school was 'boys only', as was fairly obvious from the name. He decided to not let it bother him as he located his dorm. It was only 8:30, so he had a solid half-hour before he had to go to Saddle Arabian Literature. He figured that was a good ammount of time to get himself situated.
He found a plaque on the door of his dorm when he got there. It read "This is the dorm of Night Razor and Daylight Angel." There were two keys hanging on hooks just below it.
I have a roommate? Razor thought with grief. Oh Celestia, how could this get any worse?
Razor wasn't very social. He never worked well with other ponies, and many could drive and have driven him to utter madness. It certainly didn't help that even the name, Daylight Angel, implied they wouldn't be compatible in the slightest. In fact, to Razor, it almost seemed as if the name was the exact opposite of his own.
His red aura wrapped around the key on the left hook as he began to pick it up with his magic. As he entered the room, his jaw dropped.
Razor expected there to be two seperate twin-sized beds, because what else would he expect from a two-person dorm? What he saw was not that. Sitting against the far wall of the room was a king-sized bed with pink sheets adorned in red hearts. He couldn't believe his eyes! He actually had to sleep with this guy, and in the same bed, no less. He simply sighed as he turned out of the room to go to his Literature class, noting the time.
He was looking down at his schedule as he turned the corner. Not looking where he was going, he bumped into another student. Papers flew out of the other colt's saddlebag, as they both fell to the ground.
"OMG, I'm so sorry! Here, I'll pick these up, you can be on your way." The white pegasus said, fumbling with the papers.
Razor simply stared with disbelief at the incompitant, blonde pegasus. "You're pathetic..." he said as he gripped all of the papers on the ground with his magic. His horn began to glow brighter as the papers shifted into a neat stack, which he lowered into the stallion's saddlebag before latching it up. "Next time, remember to close your saddlebags. Your papers should now all be in alphabetical order."
"Wow, thanks. What's your name?"
"Night Razor." he answered.
"Razor huh? Kinda dark, don'cha think? I guess it does go with that cutie mark of yours." The blue-eyed stallion said, indicating Razors cutie mark — a quil pen crossed against a bloody switchblade.
"Yours isn't so appealing either." Razor said, indicating the pegasus' cutie mark — a red heart-shape with a drop of red ink dripping from its tip. "All you need to know is that mine is perfect for me. What's your name anyways?"
"Daylight Angel, it's a pleasure." Angel answered.
Razor's eyes widened. This was the same Daylight Angel who he had to share a bed with. Shit just got real.
"Uh..." Razor stuttered as he tried to work through how to avoid the awkward situation. "I'm just gonna—"
"Hey wait a minute!" Angel interrupted just as Razor was beginning to leave, "Aren't you the guy I'm sharing a dorm with?"
"I-I don't know what you're talking about!" A bead of sweat ran down Razor's face. Why am I getting so nervous? he thought as he shuddered.
Angel looked through his now alphabetized papers as he spoke. "No, it says right here that I'll be sharing a dorm with a Midnight Razor... Is that not you?"
"Uh... Must be a different Razor!" He was screwed.
"They also gave me a copy of your files. It says you were accepted to this school for, quote unquote, 'being too damned cute to turn down'" As he said this, he smiled over at Razor, which caused his face to heat up for some reason. Razor futiley attempted to hide his face as Angel spoke. "Now I know it's you! I mean, I knew you were cute, but I had no idea you were a cuteness prodigy! And the best part is, I get to share a bed with you! YAY!!!" He moved to nuzzle Razor's cheek, but Razor pulled away, his face aflush.
"I-I have to get to class..." was all he said before he turned to leave. However, he found his "storming-off" interupted by the same weird guy.
"What class do you have?" he asked.
"Saddle Arabian Literature, why?"
"I just wanted to know..." Angel answered, simply, "and... because I have that at 9:00 too! Yay!"
"You've got to be kidding me..." Razor grieved to himself, but was overheard.
"NOPE! I'm not!" Angel jeered, "I'm gonna get set in the dorm real quick, but do you mind walking me to class?"
"uh... sorry... I have to... go!" And he ran. Why was he getting so distraught over this? He asked himself this as he felt his wet tears roll down his face. Just the feeling reminded him of that night just a short month or so ago. Only this time, there was no blood...
But maybe that was only because there were no thorns...
The Only Rosebud in a World of Thorns
The wind swept over his greasy mane as he ran.
Razor had no clue why he was running. He assumed he just wanted to get as far away from his creepy roommate, Angel, as possible. However, he was nowhere in sight, so running aimlessly made little to no sense. Eventually, Razor had this thought cross his mind, and he stopped abruptly.
"Wait... Where am I?" He thought, as he looked around, with a dumbfounded look on his face. He hadn't seen this part of the campus before, and there was good reason for that. He was on the opposite end of the campus. "Maybe I should've taken that tour I was offered" He thought regrettingly.
"HEY RAZOR!" The loud shout made him jump in shock, as his name was called. It was an oh-so-familiar voice he hoped he wouldn't have to hear ever again. After all, the voice's owner was the reason he'd gotten lost in the first place. He slowly turned around, too awestruck to really think Angel was there without seeing it for himself.
"W-Why are you here?" Razor said, confused by how quickly Angel had gotten their, "Weren't you late?"
"Weren't you?" Angel answered, rhetorically.
"Well... yeah, but..." He stuttered.
"Then I guess we're both late. Besides, I always come the long way to see the wildflowers." Angel reasoned, gesturing to the flowerbed.
"Aren't their, like, dozens of flowerbeds on campus though?" Razor said, confused, "Why come all the way over here every morning just for a bunch of dumb flowers?"
"Hey!" Angel lashed out, offended, "These flowers never hurt you! I happen to come here everyday because this is the only flowerbed that grows roses!"
"Geez man, sorry..." he apologized, admittedly, poorly. "So, roses huh?"
"Y-Yeah, I've always liked roses. They're pretty." He explained, as hegazed at them as if the secrets of the universe were hidden in the folds of the petals "There's thorns and weeds everywhere though. Someone should take care of those" Razor reasoned.
"Don't need to. The thorns can't hurt the roses too easily." Angel said, matter-of-factly.
"Oh? Why's that?" Razor wondered, greatly intrigued at this point.
"Well, Roses have developed these barbs here along the stem that grow at certain intervals, so if a weed tries to strangle the rose, it ends up hurting itself, and the roses keep on standing."
Razor was compelled by this seemingly insignificant piece of trivia. He didn't know why, but it spoke to him on a much deeper level. As if it were even relavant to him.
"You okay dude?" As Daylight spoke up, Razor realized how quiet he'd been. For some reason, he realized, there were tears in his eyes. He discreetly lit up his horn to quickly wipe them away. He didn't want Angel to see him worked up over some stupid flowers.
"Yeah, I'm fine," He lies. "I'm just gonna... go..." He stutters as his horn flashes a bright red.
"Wait, but I wanted to—" and before he could finish, he was interupted by a bright flash, and Razor was gone.
Guess I'm walking...
Razor appeared in the lecture hall. Luckily, the professor wasn't there yet. As he looked around, there was no sight of Daylight. "Why am I trying so hard to avoid him?" he thought, "He called me cute. It's creepy, but not really something to worry about. Then again, he really is a total idiot. He's too happy for his own good."
"It probably doesn't matter..."
"HI RAZOR!!!"
"AH!!!" Razor yelped as his eyes were met with an upside down Angel. "Where'd you come from?! And how are you flying like that???" The flying colt above him was very reminiscent of a pink Earth-pony he'd met not too long ago. Luckily, this guy wasn't. as weird. However, that was still saying something.
"I came from outside, duh." he explained, nonchalantly. "And can't all pegasi fly like this?"
"None that I've seen," he answered, creeped out. "Stop doing that, it's weird!"
"Whatever you say beau <3" He said, sitting in the seat next to Razor.
"What did you just call me?!" Razor lashed, off-taken by that last part.
"Razor?"
"No you didn't."
"Pretty sure I did..." Angel croaked, rolling his eyes.
"Whatever, I know what I heard."
"Well why'd you ask if you already knew?!" Angel lashed.
"Look, I don't know what your deal is, but I'm not interested!" Razor retaliated, "I'm in love with someone else, okay?"
"Oh?" Daylight said, curious, "What's his name?"
"Her" Razor corrected, "Her name is Black"
"Pft!"
"What's so funny?"
"No way you're straight." Razor said, "You have to be, at the very least, bi, or maybe pan."
"What?! Why do you think that?" Midnight felt offended.
"Well, for one, you get all shy around me—"
"ONLY BECAUSE YOU'RE SUPER WEIRD!!!"
"And you got all sentimental about the roses—"
"WAS NOT!!!"
"And you were so eager to help me with my papers!"
"OKAY, YOU LISTEN HERE, IF YOU DON'T CUT IT OUT I'M GONNA—"
"—Quiet down when thine professor enters the hall, perhaps?" Says a third voice. Everyone in the lecture hall turned to look to the source of the interuption.
"P-Princess Luna?!" Razor stuttered as he looked upon the intimidating Alicorn.
"Well don't look so scared Razor, we know we art not the scariest woman you know," She said, hinting at a certain mare. "and that's Miss Doctor Proffessor Headmaster Luna to you!"
"Pst... So that Black mare you were talking about, is she the scary one?" Daylight whispered.
"No... well, sometimes she's a little scary, but that's why I love her!" Razor shouted back, abit too loud.
"I SAID QUIET IN MISS DOCTOR PROFFESSOR HEADMASTER LUNA'S CLASSROOM!!!" Luna boomed with her telltale Royal Canterlot Voice.
"Okay..." Razor said meekly, shrinking back in his seat.
"Good Razor! We trust you can wait until after the lecture to talk to your little coltfriend, no?"
"HE'S NOT MY BOYFRIEND!!!" He yelled, both he and Angel, blushing heavily.
"Those blushes say otherwise, sweetie."
When Miss Doctor Professor Headmaster Luna's lecture was finished, and Razor was about to leave, he suddenly felt a faceless tail intertwine with his own, before the pony to whom the tail belonged brushed up against his own. He felt a strange sensation build up in his chest, and a heat rise to his face, as his muzzle contorted to a pleasured smile.
But all that went away when he turned to see who it was...
"So... You and me, huh?" Daylight... "I'll be honest, I def have those feeling for you, but I never imagined the Princess would—"
"DOCTOR PROFESSOR!!!" They hear from a distance.
"Right..." Daylight concluded.
"Everyone knew dude, I knew the whole time. But it isn't real by a longshot, you just wanna get in my pants. You barely know anything about me! You just find me attractive for some stupid reason!"
"Well, maybe I could learn what you're like. If I don't like you afterwards, I won't even try to slam it," he said, modestly, "but just for the record, you don't wear pants..."
"SHUT UP!!! IT'S A METAPHOR!!!"
"Sweet ass by the way. You're a bottom, right?" He smiled, awaiting an answer.
"Ugh! I'm not like that! Leave me alone!" Raaor yelled before running away hastily.
I need to stop running away from these situations...
Author's Note
Hello, everypony! This chapter was a long time coming, and I know it seems kinda short in relation to the wait there's been, but I took a break from the site for a bit. I hope you liked this and that you are excited for the next chapter.
