Being Brave Part I

Cory opened his eyes and found himself lying down in the middle of the locker room of his old school. Everything was musty and damp. The tiled floor was soaked everywhere and the sound of incoming students could be heard, getting louder with each step. The other classmates had just gotten back from another strenuous obstacle course, an exercise he became far too familiar with. His classmates had approached the finish line that day, while he, like always, approached a puddle of mud (or a heap of dirt if it wasn't raining). This would then lead to the school coach blowing his whistle against his ear, and dragging his muddy, rag doll body across the track and field. Then he humiliating him in front of his peers by making him suck on his thumb, pointing out his errors and forcing him to chant: "LOSER, LOSER, CORY IS A LOSER!!!" while the others pointed and laughed at him. But now the worst was yet to come.

As he was putting on his normal clothing, getting ready for the next class, a thick, meaty index finger poked at this shoulder.

"Hello, freak." said a voice that sounded like a knife trudging between two eardrums.

Cory turned his head. It was a bunch of bullies surrounding him in a half circle formation. He knew he couldn't fight them, nor could he go around them. It was like a frail lamb trying to climb around a dense row of lions.

Their physical statures were like football players. He could even see a vein or two popping out their forearms. Their hair was cleanly trimmed, their faces neatly shaven and their smiles just as menacing. But what he noticed most about them were their eyes. Each one, almost identically the same, glowed either a neon green with a red dot or simply a snake like turquoise. This eye color could also be seen in almost every teachers eye socket. Whenever they got mad at him or others, he could almost swear he saw a purple mist coming out of their sockets, as if they were aliens from another planet.

"Please leave me alone." he pleaded fearfully "I just want to get to..."

One of the bullies hands slammed hard against one of the lockers and gave him a face that would make a common passerby squeal. The impact on the locker was so hard, it left a dent in the metal. Cory wished so badly now for help, but where was he to find it. The principal wasn't gonna help him, and besides, if he told, he'd get hounded down for not being tough or manly enough. Then the bully slowly went to up to his ear.

"Say you're a freak." he whispered. Cory shook head.

"SAY...YOU'RE...A...FREAK." he said louder. "Say it." Cory stood motionless.

"SAY IT!!! NOW!!!" "SAY IT!!"

The bullies started to push him and violently whack his body against the locker, as they started chanting "SAY IT!! SAY IT!! SAY IT!!" Then they turned him around and locked his arms and legs against the hard, concrete wall.

"Take them off." demanded one of the bullies. He knew what was gonna come next. He just wish it wasn't true.

"TAKE THEM OFF!!"

Cory slowly took down his pants as he heard devious laughter in the background. He whimpered and sobbed as the bullies started unzipping their pants and rubbing their hands on their penises.

"No..No Please." Cory begged. "DONT DO THIS PLEASE!!" he shouted pitifully. " PLEASE, I BEG YOU NO, NO NO..."

"Cory! Cory!! What's the matter!? Wake Up!!" Yelled Applejack as he snapped out of his slumber.

Cory woke up violently shaking and covered in sweat

Big Mac, Granny Smith and Applebloom popped their heads out of the trap door to the attic. They had awoken from him screaming in the middle of the night.

"I didn't do anything. I didn't do anything..." mumbled Cory as he swayed back and forth in his bed

"SHHH it's alright sugarcube." Said Applejack comforting him with a hug. "You was just havin a bad dream, that's all. Just a little nightmare."

The warm caress of her hooves calmed him down as she rocked him back and forth like a baby in a mothers arms.

"Boy, you was shaking more than a bare sapling on a rainy day." commented Applejack after a few minutes.

Cory looked to his side and saw in the mirror what looked like two streams of tears coming down his cheeks. He quickly wiped them away before anyone could see.

"I'm sorry I woke all of you." he said meekly as his head twitched in aftershock. "I'll try not to bother you anymore."

His face looked white as chalk and his palms were fidgety and clammy. A look of worry grew on Applejack and her Family's faces.

"Aw shucks youngun." Said Granny Smith approaching him affectionately. "Don't need to be ashamed. Everypony's had that time where they chatted in their sleep."

"Eeyup." added Big Mac.

Cory took a deep breath as his twitching subsided while Applejack rubbed his back.

"If you want to" said Applejack. "You can sleep with me tonight."

"No I'm fine." replied Cory.

"Well if you ever need us Cory, we're just a floor and a room away."

Then, she kissed him gently on the cheek and headed back downstairs with her family, but not before turning her head slightly and giving a motherly concerned look on her face. Maybe that welcome party Pinkie's plannin will ease his jitterin she thought to herself.

It was now the middle of the night. The moon was full as it glistened it's magnificent light across the sleeping landscape. Sounds of owls and crickets hummed and echoed throughout the deep silence. Everyone and Everything was in a rhythmic slumber, that is except Cory. He was wide awake, restless and unable to shut his eyes. As he rocked back and forth on the edge of his bed, he looked out the window and felt the gleaming essence of the moonlight against his fragile body. He had never seen the spherical rock so close and so exquisite in detail. What's more, he could vaguely, yet visibly see in the moons craters an outline of what looked like a unicorns face staring down upon the earthly scenery below.

However the most puzzling thing that surprised him was that someone had just kissed him goodnight. No one ever had the loving courtesy to do that before, not even his parents. It's not that he disliked it, in fact, the kiss felt warm and reassuring, as if for the first time in so long, he felt right at home. But, regardless, he still felt insecure at that moment. Not to mention the fact that he was only one of his species within an infinite mile radius.

"What am I going to do." he said to himself while looking at the moon. "I've embarrassed myself one too many times. It's only a matter of days before they kick me out or abandon me for being a nuisance, just like my parents. What good am I here? For that matter, what good am I anywhere? Every time I tried to do something acceptable, I would always screw it up in the end, or break something, or make things worse for me. I cant read well, I write poorly, I don't understand the basics of algebra and equations, I can't even do a single set of push ups without running out of....sigh
"Listen to me talking to myself. Even right now I'm acting like a fool" he continued with a huff. "I have no one to blame but myself for my problems, just like Stiffson said."

Cory gently lifted his head up and stared at the magnificent sky outside his window. The stars we're in their full display, twinkling in their customary constellations. He wondered where his old friends we're, whether they we're looking for him or not, whether they missed, or even remembered him, cause he surely did. He wished for that moment they would come to his rescue, and help him out in this hour.

"Tony, Katherine, Joanna, Camden, Rachel ." he said as his lip quivered "I don't know if one of you is out there tonight. You're probably not. You've probably forgotten all about me and started a new life and all. But if by chance you haven't I...I.." He tried desperately to hold back his tears as his eyes got misty and watery. Then he forcefully turned his head away.

"Oh, what good is wishing gonna do. It's just gonna get me in more trouble." Then he turned his head back and looked down for a moment. "But since I don't really have a lot of options," he took a deep breath as he looked back up at the stars

"If any of you is out there, watching the same sky as I...I." a tear began to fall down his cheek. He piped it away instantly. "I know that you we're among the only few who believed in me and each other. We we're always able to find things we we're good at. But whenever we did, we'd get shouted at or taken the blame, or told we'd never get a career out of it. I just...I wish..."

Now he knew he couldn't hold back his tears any longer.

"I wish I was good at something without being judged!"

Suddenly, the moonbeam illuminated into a blinding light. Cory could hardly make out anything around him as his eyes from it's energy. Then, it began to move like a large flashlight amongst the barren soil. Cory pressed his face against the windowsill to see where it was going. It was gleaming itself a pile of remnants from the shack that was dismantled two days ago. Without even thinking, he opened the attic latch, tiptoed downstairs, sneaked outside and ran towards it.

The moon beam made the dismantled shack look a treasure trove of discarded jewels and riches, just waiting for someone to pick it up and make something else out of it. Immediately, he started collecting every plank of wood, screw, bolt, brick or brass handle he found and tiptoed back into the attic. Back and forth he went through this routine until he had gathered almost every remnant from the barn into a neatly secluded pile near the bed. Then, using a small toolbox he found nearby, he started to carve away into the night.

With every shaving of a wooden board, every bending of metal against brass, and every chiseling of cement and brick, a sculpture began to take form. He didn't know what would come out of it, but knew he had found his calling.