Ask somepony to name a perfect town, there’s a decent chance they'd think of Appleloosa. It was a strong town, able to withstand all manner of hardships. But it was also a friendly town, where everypony knew everypony else.
Braeburn certainly thought it was perfect. It brought a cheery whistle to his lips as he trotted happily home from the orchard. He liked his town. Proud of it too, he allowed himself to think with a shy little smile. After all, he'd helped build it. And, well, rebuild it after the incident with the buffalo. His hoofprints were on these buildings, his voice in these walls, and these were his friends. Grinning at all the ponies he passed on his way home from the orchard, he thought about how nice it was to be in a town small enough that everypony was your friend.
Then he paused, sighing softly. There were disadvantages too.
Knowing every stallion in town limited the options for romance. Of course most of them only liked mares, and the ones who did like stallions had mostly paired off with each other. He'd had a few flings when the town first got going, but that had all died down now. Truth be told, he hadn't had a proper relationship since he'd left Manehattan.
Braeburn's chain of thought was disrupted when his stomach loudly reminded him that he had more pressing things to deal with than the lack of romance. It was dinner time.
After tucking into a fresh apple pie, Braeburn turned his attention to the letter he'd found on the mat as he came in. The writing on the envelope was clearly Applejack's. Maybe she was writing to check up on Bloomberg?
He let out a slight whinny of surprise as he read the letter. Applejack had a stallion she thought he'd like? Since when was AJ a matchmaker? A mathematician—and a unicorn to boot—didn't sound like his usual type of colt. What on earth was going on?
He thought about just putting it aside and forgetting it. But there was a spark of curiosity inside him that he couldn't ignore. The timing was perfect; he'd wanted a new stallion to cuddle with, and a suggestion had literally landed on his mat.
After staring at the small piece of paper for a few minutes, he decided. Applejack never did anything without good reason. If she thought this was a good idea, he wasn't going to argue.
When was the next train to Ponyville?
It had been a strange story Applejack had told Braeburn. It seemed her mathematician friend—what was that name again? Hoofclid?—had gone to Princess Cadence for dating advice and been laughed out of the room. That seemed odd. Since when was the Princess of Love like that? Well, everypony has off-days, Braeburn thought.
Applejack hadn't told him why she thought they'd be a good match. She'd just smiled in a knowing way. Big Macintosh hadn't exactly been helpful either. The best Braeburn had managed to do in ten minutes of cajoling questions was to drag an "Eeyup" out of him when asked if he agreed with Applejack. Brae supposed he'd find out soon enough. Applejack was leading him into a small garden he assumed belonged to Hoofclid. There wasn't too much in it: just some unkempt grass and a bird table.
And a box with a hole in it. Which had "Box of loneliness" scrawled on the side. The only way you could tell there was a pony in there was that Fluttershy was leaning in, clearly trying to coax somepony out. As the two Apple ponies walked up, Fluttershy gave up and trotted over slowly.
"It's no use Applejack, he won't come out," she said from somewhere inside her mane.
"Don't you worry, I've called in a little help." Applejack turned away from Fluttershy and crouched down by the box. "Now you come out o' there Hoofclid, ya don't want to miss the party."
"Party?" The muffled voice from the box was scarcely louder than Fluttershy's, but at least had a hint of curiosity.
"Yeah, my cousin Braeburn's in town, and we're throwin' him a bash!"
Braeburn had been listening to this exchange with some disappointment. ‘A little help’ didn't exactly say ‘serious relationship prospect’ so much as ‘mission of mercy’. Oh well.
Still, Braeburn wasn't a pony to refuse a call for help. If this pony needed a cheering-up, a cheering-up he would get. Braeburn crouched down next to the box and gave a smile. Inside was a grey unicorn with a brown mane, which looked oddly out of place in a town containing so many brightly coloured horses. His ears were flopped down and he was looking at a small patch on the ground which looked... damp.
Nothing for it, thought Braeburn. "Howdy!” he called cheerily, “I've heard so much about you! Sure was hopin' you'd show me round town before the party!"
Hoofclid's ears pricked up a bit, but he still looked a little uncertain. So Braeburn pulled out his best "pleased to meet ya!" grin. It was a grin which had served him well in the past. It did not disappoint.
The unicorn's mouth dropped open slightly, his blue eyes seeming to sparkle. He shifted forward, then seemed to hesitate with only his head out of the box. There was a pause. Then Hoofclid seemed to make his mind up and smiled. The rest of the pony then scrambled out of the box and scuttled over to stand alongside Braeburn.
"Well it wouldn't do to disappoint you then would it?" came the answer, still only a little louder than before. Whatever affect the famous Braeburn grin had had on Hoofclid's subconscious, the conscious bits were clearly still nervous.
At least the pony was out of the box, so Braeburn felt that his "mission of mercy" was going well. That and a Pinkie Pie party would make this a pretty successful trip for him even if it didn't involve any romance. Hoofclid didn't seem to want to lead, so Braeburn picked a direction. "This way?"
A few hours later and the party was in full swing. Braeburn had been treated to cake and a rather long-winded speech from Princess Twilight. The speech was nowhere near as impressive as her dancing style was once the music started. How had Hoofclid described it? "Distinctive".
The grey unicorn tasked with showing Braeburn around had gradually opened up through the evening. This had surprised Braeburn a little. He'd seemed so quiet at the beginning, and Brae had thought maybe that was all there was to him. And then at some point Braeburn had idly asked what was in the Ponyville museum and the floodgates had burst.
Over the last few minutes, Braeburn had been deluged with information on the local geology, archaeology and palaeontology. He wasn't hugely sure that Hoofclid could see him anymore; he seemed oblivious to anything except the topic at hand. Braeburn could still see Hoofclid though, and could see the excitement bubbling out of the unicorn. He smiled. There was something very cute about that.
Wait? Cute? That wasn't how Braeburn thought of other stallions. "Hot" was usually what he thought about stallions he was interested in. Was he interested in this one? He hadn't really been paying much thought to it since he'd categorised this as a "mission of mercy". But maybe... just maybe...
Braeburn suddenly realised that the dinosaur babble had stopped. Hoofclid seemed to have twigged that he'd been the only one talking for about ten minutes and had flipped immediately back to "shy mode". There was some mumbled apology and a blush.
Now that was cute.
Braeburn tried to clear his head a bit. Focus. Conversation. Friends. He decided he had quite enjoyed the rambling, so he found a dinosaur name from somewhere in his memory and asked if any of those had been found near Ponyville. Hoofclid grinned and the light was back in his eyes. Braeburn sat back mentally with a bucket of popcorn to let the tide roll over him.
Somewhere nearby in the party, Applejack and Pinkie Pie exchanged a glance and bumped hooves.
Hoofclid and Braeburn had been talking all evening. Once dinosaurs had been exhausted, Braeburn had taken over and talked about “Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaappleloosa” for a bit. And so they had rolled on through the party.
As the conversation flowed smoothly, it came as a surprise when the hour grew late. The party was winding down, and so was the sun. Although the sun seemed to be taking an unreasonably long time to set today. Braeburn wondered whether that was a Ponyville thing, some weird artefact of the local magic. However, when he mentioned it to Pinkie Pie, she had just burst out laughing. Odd. Well there was no accounting for Pinkie. He had other things to think about.
"Say," said Braeburn, drawing Hoofclid aside at a break in the conversation, "is there somewhere nice we can watch the sunset?"
There was a pause as some wheels turned in the mathematician's head. Calculations finished, he replied, "There's a nice bridge over the river? That's got a good view west."
The two ponies drifted over to the bridge and sat down. It was a glorious sunset, deep golden tones flowing across the hills of Ponyville. A thought crept into Braeburn's head. Glancing down at Hoofclid's forehoof on the bridge next to him, he smiled. Maybe it was time to test the waters.
Braeburn reached over and put his hoof atop Hoofclid's. The unicorn nearly jumped out of his skin and tugged his hoof away. Braeburn pulled back too, slightly disappointed. He mumbled a "sorry". He had thought things were going pretty well. His subconscious had long since stopped thinking ‘mission of mercy’ and switched to ‘this is a cute stallion, I'd like to know him better’. Oh well. Maybe he'd just have to look round Appleloosa again.
Hoofclid meanwhile was looking at Braeburn. The earth pony tried to decode the expression. Hoofclid wasn't quite staring. He seemed to be thinking very hard. Was that... a hint of a smile? The unicorn gradually put his hoof back down. Braeburn tried to work out if it was a smidgeon closer than before.
He decided that it was, and gently put his hoof back on top of it. The unicorn didn’t flinch away now, and Braeburn looked up to see that Hoofclid’s face had flushed a deep red. With a bit of surprise Braeburn realised that he was blushing too.
"So... fancy dinner tomorrow?" asked Braeburn. The response from beside him was barely audible.
"Y-yes p-please".
The two stallions sat and watched the sunset, which still seemed to be taking an unreasonably long time. Braeburn didn't mind though. The far off sounds of the party faded gradually to he replaced by the evensong of Ponyville's birds. Two ponies sat and watched and listened. It was the picture of tranquility.
Until Hoofclid tried to shift his position and fell in the river. Braeburn looked over to make sure that the unicorn was okay making his way to the bank and grinned. It had been a good night.
Thwack! A pair of yellow hooves smacked into a tree at Sweet Apple Acres. Braeburn listened contentedly to the familiar patter of apples falling into a bucket.
"You really don't have to do this, cousin..."
"Shame on you, Applejack! Ya didn't really think I'd let you put me up for a week without doin' any work on the farm did ya?"
Applejack smiled. Stubborn as any of her family that one. "So... how did you get on yesterday, Braeburn?"
Braeburn cantered chirpily over to the next tree, grinning widely. "I wasn't sure at first, but it was great fun by the end!"
Thwack! went the tree. "Pinkie Pie sure knows how to throw a party! Great food, and cake, and cider. And the company..."
Thwack! "...I've not heard a pony talk so bouncily in years! 'cept when I'm talking about AAAAAAAAAPPLELOOSA!"
Braeburn reared up and gave the tree another good thwack. "Just makes ya happy to listen to him. Kinda cute too, I thought"
Thwack!
"Uh, Braebur–"
"We're goin' out for dinner tonight too! Someplace called the Daisy and Daffodil. Ya ever been there? Is it nice?"
Thwack!
"Brae–"
"Never mind, I'll find out soon enough."
Thwack!
"B–"
"What time do ya think it is, I aint got my..."
Thwack!
"BRAEBURRRNNN!”
"Uh. Yes, cuz?"
"You've been kicking that tree for the last five minutes. Aint a leaf left on it."
Braeburn looked round sheepishly at the piles of leaves covering the ground. "Oh. Sorry."
"Braeburn, can I ask you something? You aint just gonna have a quick fling and disappear again are ya?"
"No!"
"Cos I think Hoofclid might take it kinda hard..."
"AH SAID: NO!"
Applejack took a step back. Her cousin stomped across to another tree, aimed a wild kick at it, missed, and fell over. He didn't move for a moment, just stared silently at the ground. Applejack didn't say anything either—Big Macintosh had taught her that sometimes you just need to let a pony talk on their own. When Braeburn started up again he was very quiet—perhaps trying to make up for the yell.
"I ain't gonna hurt him, Applejack." He paused. "Why did you bring me down here? Hoofclid doesn't exactly seem like my usual type."
"And how long have you ever stayed with a stallion of your 'usual type'?" Applejack’s eyebrow was raised. Braeburn deflated. That was not a question he wanted to answer truthfully. And there was no lying to that eyebrow. Silence descended on the orchard again.
After a few moments, a stray thought from the evening before worked its way back into Brae’s mind. "That sunset yesterday? Did you... get Twilight to ask Princess Celestia to make it a nice long one?"
For the first time in the conversation, Applejack looked a little bashful. "Yup. Pinkie's idea."
"You’re really pulling the strings, huh.”
Applejack fiddled with her hat, still uncomfortable with being able to ask things of princesses. Braeburn pawed the ground, working up to his next question.
“So... you genuinely think this can work?"
AJ replaced her hat and chuckled. "Didn't you just prove it? What's the last time you yelled at me? What's the last time you raised your voice to anypony?"
Braeburn shuffled uncomfortably. "Sorry about that..." he mumbled.
"And yet the mere hint that you might hurt that unicorn, you get mad,” AJ continued. “So yes. I think this can work."
Braeburn stopped shuffling and smiled.
"Now get movin'. It's almost dinner time."
Braeburn galloped off. Then stopped. He turned around, ran back and tackled his cousin in a big hug. Then he charged off in the direction of the farmhouse.
Braeburn had barely finished cleaning himself up from the day's work when Applejack called up the stairs to tell him Hoofclid had arrived. That was odd. He'd assumed they were meeting at the restaurant. Perhaps Hoofclid had decided to take him there—after all he was new to town.
The sight that greeted the yellow stallion when he reached the bottom of the stairs was not what he had expected. Most of the Apple family looked like they were on the verge of exploding into laughter—and perhaps would have done if not for the glare with which Big Macintosh was sweeping the room whenever Hoofclid looked the other way.
The unicorn himself was a far cry from the bouncy chap he had been last night. He looked terrified. His hooves seemed incapable of staying in one place, and the bags under his eyes left no illusion about how much sleep he had had the night before.
While Brae was just wearing his usual waistcoat and hat, Hoofclid had dressed up in a suit and tie. There was some evidence that his mane had been brushed and combed, but the hoof he was nervously running through it was rapidly destroying any such order. And in his magic he was holding... was that grass?
"What's with the grass?" Braeburn asked.
"I-wanted-to-bring-you-flowers-and-thought-they-should-match-your-eyes-but-I-couldn't-find-any-green-flowers-so-here's-some-grass," Hoofclid babbled at several times his usual talking pace.
Yes it was ridiculous. Yes it was absurd. But it was also, in its own way, very sweet, Braeburn decided. He gently took the bundle of grass and trotted back to his room with it. He came back down and gave his most winning smile. The grey unicorn stopped twitching for a moment, transfixed by the smile once again.
"Thank you," Brae said simply. "Let's go."
Hoofclid barely managed to string a sentence together on the walk to the Daisy and Daffodil. Or when talking to the waiter. After a few minutes when it was hard to tell if Hoofclid was reading his menu or hiding behind it, Brae decided to take charge.
"You can relax, you know. This isn't a test."
"Isn't it?" replied Hoofclid before he could stop himself.
"What, a test to see if I like you?"
"Something like that." came the mumbled response.
A pause. Braeburn ran mentally through his chat with Applejack and made a decision.
"I do like you."
There was an odd popping sound as Hoofclid's magic gave out. The menu fell onto the table with a little clatter of cutlery.
"Now will you please relax so we can enjoy dinner?"
The rest of the evening had gone smoothly enough. Having calmed his date down Braeburn managed to strike up a real conversation and enjoyed it just as much as the previous night.
But now it was over, the clearly exhausted mathematician having staggered off home. Braeburn trotted up to his temporary bedroom at Sweet Apple Acres and saw the little pile of grass he had dumped on the dresser. He opened the window to sweep it outside and let it blow away.
He paused.
He shut the window.
It was grass. Just grass. Nothing special about it. Except that Hoofclid had taken the time to gather it for him as a present.
The stallion sneaked quietly down to the kitchen to fetch some paper and string. Then returning to his room, he gently wrapped up the grass into a little parcel and placed it carefully in a drawer.
"Wait three days before making contact after a date" was a rule Braeburn had heard once. But he only had a week in Ponyville before he had to go back to his work in Appleloosa, so he'd decided that three days was way too long. In fact he decided that even one day would be too long.
So it was that after lunch he asked Applejack if he was needed on the farm that afternoon and was promptly sent packing. He had waited until after lunch because he thought the unicorn would need to catch up on some sleep. He was not wrong. Hoofclid had in fact slept in so long that he had reclassified lunch as breakfast, and had only just finished it when he heard the knock. He sleepily dragged himself to the door and opened it to find a huge smile looking back at him. Most of Hoofclid's tiredness seemed to melt off him when he recognised it.
"Afternoon, partner!" boomed Braeburn, slightly louder than he had meant. Hoofclid blinked back. Perhaps he was trying to work out if "partner" was a friendly Appleloosan greeting or meant something more. Truth be told, Braeburn was a little unsure himself. But a little playful ambiguity couldn't hurt for now, he decided.
"Wanna go for a walk? We only saw the town when ya showed me round on Monday, I'm sure there's some great countryside round here!"
"Ducks."
"Pardon?"
Hoofclid's slowly awakening brain realised that he hadn't managed to get out the entire sentence.
"I mean yes. There's a lake I like where there are some ducks. I could take you there."
It was a beautiful lake, although Braeburn couldn't immediately see any of the promised ducks. Appleloosa had no lakes. How many moons had it been since Braeburn had gone for a swim? Too many. Grinning, he stripped off his jacket and slung it over a branch, before hanging his hat next to it.
"Comin' in?" he said to the slightly puzzled unicorn before trotting into the water up to his fetlocks. It was a little chillier than he had expected—one of those 'ok once you're in' sorts of temperatures. Hoofclid had paused at the water's edge thinking things over. Or more accurately, Braeburn decided, overthinking them. He aimed a splash of water at the unicorn to break his train of thought.
"You're gonna get wet anyway if you stand there, you may as well come in!" Another splash.
Hoofclid smiled and bounced into the water a few feet away from the earth pony and aimed at tame little splash at him.
"That the best you got?" taunted Braeburn, prancing indolently.
Hoofclid grinned wolfishly. A flash from his horn was quickly followed by a small tidal wave which totally drenched Braeburn and carried straight on past him. A loud and annoyed quacking indicated that there were in fact ducks on this lake. Who had until now been having a nice nap.
"Sorry, was that a bit much?" Hoofclid smiled sheepishly and blushed. He was half way through a second apology when he discovered that years of applebucking made for legs that could deliver a mighty splash of their own.
The two stallions played happily in the water for a few minutes until they were interrupted by a veritable cascade of quacking from the bank. The ponies looked over to see that one of the ducks—who still looked about as furious as a duck could manage—had brought Fluttershy down to the lake.
"Um, Donald says that you've been disturbing his nap. I don't like to point hooves, but maybe you could play a little more quietly please?" Fluttershy was as quiet as ever, but perhaps a little firmer to indicate that there was no disobeying the request. Hoofclid and Braeburn trotted shamefacedly out of the water.
"Sorry, Fluttershy,." they chimed in unison. Fluttershy raised an eyebrow. Understanding immediately, the stallions turned to the duck.
"Sorry, Donald."
The duck started to rant again, but the eyebrow turned on him in a very obvious ‘They apologised, now go back to your nest’ signal. Donald flapped off.
"Would you two like to come back to my cottage for some tea? It's not far."
The sun was strong that day and the stallions dried off quickly on the walk to Fluttershy's place. They sat down in the garden together as Fluttershy busied herself making the tea—all offers of help being gently refused. Braeburn drank his cup slowly. Appleloosa was not really a place for hot drinks and he wasn't accustomed to them. Hoofclid meanwhile gulped down a large mug as Fluttershy took tiny sips from a much smaller cup.
As the conversation progressed, Braeburn noticed Hoofclid becoming quieter and quieter until he finally dozed off. The unconscious unicorn slipped over a little until he came to a stable position with his muzzle resting on Braeburn's forehoof.
"He must really like you..." said Fluttershy in a tone even quieter than usual—though Braeburn found the notion that Fluttershy's normal voice would ever wake anyone up faintly absurd.
"I wouldn't say that..." Braeburn hesitated, "...I just don't think he's got much sleep the last few days."
"It's more than that," replied Fluttershy after another tiny sip. "Hoofclid often sleeps badly, but I've never seen him take a nap like that before. He told me once that he's usually too nervous to fall asleep in a new place, or with other ponies around. You must make him feel really safe."
Braeburn couldn't think of a reply to that. Part of him wanted to argue, but he supposed Fluttershy knew Hoofclid far better than he did yet. He looked over at her. The pegasus was just
smiling at them from behind her teacup. Evidently she had said all she was going to on the matter.
He looked back down to the snoozing unicorn, who was smiling gently. He looked so peaceful it made Braeburn feel sleepy too. Maybe it couldn't hurt to just rest his eyes for a minute. He laid his head down on his hooves next to Hoofclid's, with every intention of carrying on talking to Fluttershy. He found he had no ideas for what to say next. The clearing was silent except for the slow sipping of Fluttershy's tea.
"You sure know how to show a colt a good time, huh cuz?" Braeburn blinked up at the sight of Applejack standing over him. He tried to work out what time it was. Early evening maybe? Hoofclid's eyes were open too, though he hadn't moved his head from its position resting against Braeburn. The earth stallion lifted his head up to look around, making the blanket slip off him slightly.
Wait. Blanket? Fluttershy, he guessed. Braeburn hadn't spoken to her much on her trip to Appleloosa, but he was rapidly appreciating that the Element of Kindness well deserved her reputation.
"You'd better come on back to Sweet Apple Acres. Big Macintosh is cookin' dinner and you know how partic’lar he can be about timings," explained Applejack.
The two stallions' ears flopped down in unison.
"OK cuz, I'm a-comin'," said Braeburn slowly.
AJ smirked. "Hoofclid's invited too of course."
The ears perked up again.
Hoofclid scrambled to his feet, his natural dislike of being late (coupled with hunger) overcoming his sleepiness at last. Using his magic to fold up Fluttershy's blanket as he trotted inside, he called back, "Well we don't want to keep everypony waiting, do we?"
Braeburn watched him go as he slowly came upright. Then he fell over again. It turned out that having a pony resting on your leg for hours on end sent it quite firmly to sleep. Applejack helped him up.
"Oh, by the way." Applejack grinned. "I took the liberty of snappin’ some pictures while y’all were sleepin'. Lookin' forward to the next reunion."
The next day it rained. Hard. Appleloosa didn't have many pegasi, so the weather there was never very dramatic. Braeburn stomped about his room gloomily. He only had a week here and he had to spend a day stuck inside because of the rain? He had tried to go out anyway, but Applejack had said it wasn't safe in this kind of storm. So while the various Apples had busied themselves with their hobbies, Braeburn had read some of the few books in the house. When he tired of that he went back to his stomping.
At about 4pm there was a knock at the door. Braeburn was rather surprised to see Hoofclid peeking around the door.
"How in tarnation did you get here through this storm? Your fur ain’t even damp!"
"Magic does have its uses," said Hoofclid, whose horn was still glowing. "I brought something. Wanna see?"
After Braeburn nodded, he trotted into the room. He was carrying a small kettle, some mugs and a blanket.
"I generally have tea at 4pm every day. I mean, I have lots of tea, but 4pm is the one I stick to, whether I'm at home or visiting Fluttershy. There's just something very reassuring about... oh wait I'm babbling again aren't I?”
Braeburn smiled at him gently.
"Well I also really like storms. Just cuddling up under a blanket with some tea and watching the rain... It's kind of a special thing for me."
He paused, as if considering his next move.
"I'd like to share it with you, if you want to. I mean you don't have to do the cuddling if you don't want to, or any of it really..."
Braeburn answered him by jumping up onto his bed facing the window and patting the spot next to him. Hoofclid gingerly followed, sitting down a few inches away. He blasted the kettle with some magic to start it off.
"Whatcha doing all the way over there?" asked Braeburn. "You gotta come a bit closer if that blanket's gonna cover us both!"
Hoofclid blushed slightly at the roguish wink that accompanied this statement. He scooched over a couple of inches. Braeburn moved in the rest of the way, enjoying the steady reddening of the unicorn's cheeks. Hoofclid pulled the blanket round them with his magic. It wasn't really big enough for two ponies.
"Maybe you should bring a bigger one next time," said Braeburn quietly.
"Next time?"
"You said you do this every day right?"
"You... really have to go back tomorrow Braeburn?" said Hoofclid forlornly.
"Yeah..." replied Braeburn in much the same tone. "I got a week off from work, it was all I could manage."
There was a silence.
"It was a good week though wasn't it, Hoofclid?"
"The best."
Another silence.
Hoofclid pawed at the ground. "It doesn't have to be over yet. There's still the evening. And I haven't showed you my favourite tree."
"You have a favourite tree?" Braeburn was surprised. Only earth ponies usually had such things. "Is it an apple tree?" He winked.
"No... a maple, I think..." Hoofclid was evidently wallowing too much in his sulk to notice the wink. Time to get him out of this room or he'd just spiral downward. The ponies had already had dinner at Sweet Apple Acres, and it was almost time for sunset.
"Let's go then!"
It seemed like a perfectly ordinary tree to Braeburn. It stood alone on a hilltop so it would at least make a good place to watch the sunset from. Curiosity overcame Brae’s enjoyment of the tranquil evening.
"Go on then, why is this your favourite tree?"
"Well in the autumn it doesn't change colour all at once you see... the leaves go a few at a time, in bands, so the autumn seems to sweep across it slowly. Meantime it's all sorts of fun shades, yellow and orange... nice colours yellow and orange..."
The unicorn trailed off, then realised he'd spent far too long looking at Braeburn's mane and came out in a bright red blush.
"Red's a good colour too." Braeburn grinned and booped Hoofclid cheekily on the nose, then trotted a little way up the hill.
"It'll be sundown soon... It'll be a good show, the pegasi did a good job clearing the clouds today, huh, Hoofclid?"
The earth pony realised he was talking to himself and looked back down the hill. Hoofclid was standing still, smiling to himself and seemingly trying to look at the end of his nose. Braeburn finally realised that it was the first time he'd booped the unicorn. Maybe he'd surprised him. But the maths horse looked more like he was trying to burn the image into his memory. Well if that had blown him away, the rest of the evening could be fun, Brae chuckled to himself.
Eventually Hoofclid came round and joined the farmer atop the hill, and they settled down to watch the sunset. Hoofclid actually seemed to still be thinking about colours as he watched the low sunlight play with and accentuate the colours of the earth pony’s mane. Brae just smiled back, not wanting to embarrass him by commenting. Spooking Hoofclid now might scupper the next move. The sun would be gone soon and he needed to pick the right moment before they ran out of time.
Hoofclid glanced away and pointed out that Venus had just popped into view, the brightest thing in the sky without the sun or moon there. Brae decided. It had to be now.
Braeburn leaned in towards the unicorn's mouth. Hoofclid flinched away. That was fine, the earth pony thought, he'd been expecting that.
Braeburn stayed where he was. The offer had been made, it was up to Hoofclid to accept it.
The grey pony was staring back at him in a now-familiar way. The same look he had had on the first night when they touched hooves. The same look when Brae had offered him a hug at the end of that night. Hoofclid was deciding if he trusted him, liked him enough to do this. Braeburn didn't mind the wait. He just had to be patient and let Hoofclid make up his mind. The answer had never been "no" yet.
It wasn't this time either. Hesitatingly, Hoofclid leaned forward and closed the gap for their first kiss. It was very quick, but when they broke Hoofclid didn't pull away. Neither did Braeburn. He just waited, muzzle a couple of inches from Hoofclid's, looking into the other pony's eyes. Hoofclid was blushing again and had a silly goofy smile.
"That was... I've never... my first kiss..." he burbled out.
"You want another one, Hoofie?" Well, it's as good a time as any to try a pet name, thought Braeburn.
"Y-y-yes p-please..."
The second kiss lasted longer than the first. Braeburn reached into Hoofclid's mane and pulled him in close. There was no resistance, and a few seconds later he felt a hoof in his own mane. The coltfriends broke away and looked into each other's eyes, smiling.
"Thank you, Brae..."
"Hey, don't be thanking me! I enjoyed it too!" Braeburn grinned. "But I think I'm all out of kisses for tonight. You'll have to give me some back. Which means you'll have to catch me first!"
Braeburn bounced up and cantered playfully away.
At least, he tried to. He suddenly realised he wasn't touching the ground.
"No fair!" he cried as Hoofclid levitated him back over. The nervousness seemed to be all gone.
"Well I caught you didn't I?!" Hoofclid swished his tail in triumph as he set the earth pony down next to him. "Now, I demand my victory spoils!"
With new-found confidence he hugged Braeburn, then turned in to nuzzle against his cheek. It was long after sunset when the two stallions realised it was night time and trotted home with a spring in their step.
The train stood threateningly at the platform, looming over the assembled ponies. Time for Braeburn to head back to Appleloosa. The Apple family had come down to see him off, as of course had Hoofclid. The unicorn looked a bit sulky but was doing his best to be upbeat about things. Braeburn said his farewells to his family then walked slowly over to Hoofclid.
"Well... guess I'll be seein' ya..."
Braeburn didn't like the vagueness. Maybe they should have agreed when they might meet up next. But they couldn't do it now, the train was about to leave.
"Yeah... goodbye, Brae..." came the response. The two stallions hugged.
Braeburn turned to get on the train, then paused. No. That wouldn't do. He needed to see that blush one last time. Spinning back he pulled his new coltfriend into a kiss, running a hoof through his mane.
A loud noise from one side caused him to open an eye. He could see Apple Bloom cheering them on enthusiastically. Applejack meanwhile had her hat pulled down over her face in embarrassment. Ever placid, Big Mac simply gave an approving nod. Finally Brae spotted Granny Smith glaring at the conductor, who was frozen in place with his whistle to his mouth ready. Time to go.
The earth pony finally broke the kiss. Hoofclid had a silly grin plastered over his bright red face.
"Goodbye, Hoofie," said Braeburn, giving the unicorn one last boop before grabbing his saddlebags and jumping aboard the train.
He found his seat just as the train moved off. Hoofclid gave a quick wave then charged off back towards town. Funny... wonder what that was all about...
Braeburn didn't move much on the train ride, but just sat staring out of the window. An observer might have believed he was deep in thought, but in truth Braeburn was just having a good stare. After so many emotions in the past week, his brain was taking the opportunity to shut down.
As the train paused in a lay-by to let the mail train speed by, the sudden blur outside finally caused Braeburn to flinch back and start up again. He tried to plan out the week ahead, but ended up thinking about how much Hoofclid liked to plan things in detail. He tried thinking about what his apple trees would need after a week away, but found himself wondering how he could keep Hoofclid's favourite tree healthy. He tried to think that it would be good to see his friends at the orchard again, but just wound up thinking through a conversation where he told them about a certain unicorn.
Braeburn shook his head clear as the train pulled into Appleloosa. He hadn't had to deal with these feelings for a long time, and he couldn't really remember what he did to distract himself. But walking through town would help.
The yellow pony bounded off the train impetuously. It was good to be home after all. He cantered through town at a good pace, waving to his friends and calling out greetings. By the time Braeburn got back to his front door he was feeling quite chipper. It was good to see folks again.
Shoving open the door knocked aside a small heap of post. On the top Braeburn was surprised to see a heavily-stamped express package. That was strange. Things moved slowly here, who could need express post? He tore open the envelope and a small note dropped out, followed by a picture.
"Welcome home, Braeburn! Hope it was a nice train ride. Pinkie gave me this picture from the party: our first photo together!
--Hoofclid x"
Braeburn stared, emotions pounding in his head. Hoofclid had run off the platform... to post him a note to cheer him up when he got home? He rubbed a cheek and a tear came away with it. So much for calm...
The earth pony glanced around the hallway, trying to think. This had to go somewhere safe. Where? Braeburn trotted up to his bedroom and found a nearly-empty drawer. It wasn't hard, he had never felt the need to have much stuff. Chucking a hoofful of things on the floor to clear the drawer, Braeburn carefully placed the note and picture inside. He rummaged through his saddlebags and found Applejack's original letter to him. He tried to flatten it out and put that in the drawer too. Finally he put in the small package he knew contained the grass Hoofclid had brought to the first date.
Braeburn slowly slid the drawer back in, but caught sight of the faces smiling up at him from the picture. No. That wouldn't do. He picked the picture back up again and propped it up on his bedside table. Much better.
Being busy for a few minutes had felt good. The stallion swished his tail a couple of times as he looked around for something else to do. It occurred to him that he should thank Hoofclid for the picture. Maybe he could offer a return visit to Appleloosa too...
He went downstairs for some paper and a pen, then lay down on his bed facing his new picture. He smiled and began to write.
Author's Note
Thank you so much for reading, I hope you liked it! Let me know what you thought down in the comments, and if you want to see more of Hoofclid and Braeburn, and the rest of the pony cast, check out my comic blog at Hoofclid and Friends!
