Tuned Too Low

Chapter Eleven: Head On Collision and Other Stories

'Adolescent Trust'

                   "So, wait, your mom wears those sunglasses wherever she goes?!"  Coraline asked, laughing hysterically. Cee had just told her a story concerning his DJ mother's signature glasses and how she begged for them back by Octavia.

                   "Yup! Everywhere! Sometimes she wears them to bed." Cee said whispering the last part.

                   We rejoin these two at Cee's home, where Octavia's Birthday will be taking place. C.D. and Coraline are hanging out in his room. Where there talking about, well, stuff. Cee is now attempting to convince Coraline to play guitar. Which, to her distress, he's really pushing for.

                   "Come on, Cory! It's easy! And it's a great way to relax." He said handing his old guitar to her. She grabbed it and looked it over. It was essentially just like his current one, but had barely any stickers and many, many scratches.

                   "You know I play the violin, right? And you did NOT just call me 'Cory'!" She glared at him. He jumped back a little.

                   "Oh! Uh, D-do you not like that?" He said nervously. Coraline laughed.

                   "Oh, chill, Cee. I was just kidding!" She jumped from the bed and hugged him. He turned beet red.

                   "Hehe, I knew that...yeah." He said sheepishly. "So, yeah. The best way to play guitar, is to pretty much mess around with it. Like, just learn three chords, and then wing it!" He grabbed his other guitar and began to play a simple melody. Then, he got more technical. Coraline watched as he play several more notes then finished. She clapped afterwards causing him to blush. "See? Now you try."

                   Coraline picked up the old guitar on the bed and tried to match Cee exactly. She strumed the first note and smiled. "Hey, this is fun!" She strummed a couple more times, then made up her own riff. Cee's jaw dropped. 'How could she learn this fast? It took me and mom six months to teach Spike!' He nodded his along to what Coraline played. It was as if she already knew ho to play. She finished and Cee cheered. She tried to hide her face away from him, but failed.

                   "Have you played before?" He asked still amazed.

                   "Well, no. I just pretended it was a violin, and played it that way." She saw the look in his eyes and looked away. 'He really thought I was good.' Cee hopped off the bed and decide to gather all his notes for the show that night. New songs he and the band practiced, little solos in between songs, and some extra stuff. He had it all in a pile on his bed when he fell back on it.

                   "Are you nervous?" Coraline asked looking down at him. His eyes were closed and he clapped his hooves to together. Just a Scratch didn't have to go on for another...He sat up to find his clock. Another four hours. It was three-o-clock now. He laid back down and looked up at Coraline.

                   "Eh. Yeah, but not as nervous as my mum will get if anything goes wrong."

                   "Mum?" She giggled.

                   "Mum. As in 'my other mom'. Oh!" He sat up and turned to Coraline. Her eyes widened and her mouth hung slightly open. Cee face-hoofed and lifted her jaw. "Okay. Go on. Say what you need to say."

                   Coraline's eyes shrank down when she noticed how Cee looked. His head was down and he was cringing. Like he was prepared for a shot at his heritage. She lifted a hoof to his face and and lifted his head back up.

                   "I'm not going to make fun of you. Why would I? Just because you have two moms?" He looked away and stared at the floor.

                   "Where I used to live, Hayword, I was picked on for it. Being 'magically born' isn't really cool. That's why I live here now." He said in a whisper. Coraline saw the pained look he had and brushed her head against his. Cee turned around to see a comforting face.

                   "What does that have to do with you? Your personality has nothing to do with how you were born, your gender, your looks. It's who you are as a pony that makes you." She said in a assuring tone. Cee's face brighten up. His orange eyes gleamed and his smile grew.

                   "Thanks. You know you're pretty smart...for a filly and all."

                   Coraline playfully nudged him. "Really?! And you're pretty calm and cool for a nervous colt who couldn't talk to me for the longest time! I mean, really." She got off the bed and faced him. "Every time I see you, you're staring off into space. Or you fall over! It's like you're scared off fillies!...Are you?" She went from mocking him to a look of wonder. Cee laughed at her points and question.

                   "No, but I know who is-" He quickly clammed his hooves over his mouth and turned away. Coraline's eyes gleamed and she rush to him.

                   "OHMYGOSH! Who?! Do I know him? Does he go to our school? Tellmetellmetellmetellmetellmetellmetellme-" A hoof covered her mouth. Cee cocked his head to the side with amazement at the sudden burst of energy from this filly.

                   "For the sake of our friendship, I promised I wouldn't tell. Plus, he said the way he'll tell anypony, is when he come's out to my other friend. Which will be, like, whenever he grows a pair." Cee heard how, even with his hoof over her mouth, she continued her barrage of "Tell Me"s. "Stop saying 'Tell Me'! Geeze, are you like this at every new thing?" When he heard her stop, he removed his hoof. She was bemused. "Hey, I wouldn't have to have done that if you did reacted that way."

                   She put on a puppy dog face and placed her hooves over Cee's. Her lip quivered as she spoke. "D-don't you trust me? I thought...I thought we were closer than that..."

                   Cee mentally face-hoofed. He was not going to win this. It was a losing battle between beauty and ignorance, and beauty was winning. He shook his head and gazed away from her display. Only for her to move back into his view.

                   "Please...tell me." She moved closer to his face. A blush form on both of their faces. Mostly Cee's, for as he moved back more, he was almost falling off the bed. But she moved closer and closer still. Her cutie face was not letting up and Cee was about to crack. Gravity had other ideas. Suddenly Cee couldn't feel the bed behind him and dropped to the floor, along with Coraline on top of him.

                   There they laid. Staring into each others eyes as they moved not even an inch. A wave of awkwardness filled the entire room, leaving them frozen in place. Cee notice the gleam in Coraline's eyes. Her muzzle was only centimeters away from his, and she was blushing rapidly. He wanted to sit up, to get air, but other than Coraline, something held him down. Something in him wanted this to last as long as possible. He tried to speak hopefully breaking the silence, only to hear his own voice crack.

                   "U-uh, Coraline...I-"

                   The door busted open to reveal Vinyl holding a chip bag in her mouth and headphones on her head. She didn't appear to notice the two on the floor.

                   "Hey, Cee! I have chips if you want any-" She stopped when she gazed at the foot of the bed. Her jaw dropped, letting go of the chips and leaving a mess of them covering the floor. She lifted a hoof to her sunglasses and lowered them to see better. Her expression hadn't changed. She lowered them back down and slowly backed out of the room with out a word. The door slowly closed and a sound of giggles came from the out side. Cee mentally face-hoofed again. Sometimes, his mother couldn't be just a little bit mature.

                   "Um...Sorry...about that." Coraline said slowly getting off him, still red in the face. Cee got up from the floor and dusted himself off.

                   "...it's okay. I-uh, do you still want to-"

                   "Not if you don't really want to tell me-"

                   "I'll tell you-"

                   "I understand, Cee you haven't known me that long-"

                   "Coraline, I'll tell yo-"

                   "And you may not trust me-"

                   Cee grabbed Coraline and shook her a little. "Coraline! I'll tell you!" She looked a little surprise. Cee let her go and sat on his haunches. She sat in front of him, patiently waiting for him.

                   "*sigh* Do you promise not to say anything?" He said softly.

                   She nodded. "Of course."

                   "Pinkie promise?"

                   "Really, Cee?"

                   "Pinkie promise me."

                   "Fine." She held up her hooves and did the movements as she said the promise. "Cross my heart and hope to fly. Stick a cupcake in my eye."

                   "Okay..." He paused for a second. "...It's Sky."

                   Her expression didn't really change. She looked a little confused. "Really? I thought it would have been Red."

                   "Sky hopes."

                   "What?"

                   "Nothing." He answered quickly, realizing he's said too much already. Coraline understood. She held up her hoof, leading Cee on to lean his against her's. He held his hoof up and pressed it up to her's. It was soft and warm. Cee looked into her eyes and saw something, like a bond he doesn't know about.

                   "I'm glad that you could share something so personal with me. I'm happy to be your friend." She said smiling warmly.

                   "I'm happy you're my friend, too." He said, grinning even more than her.

                   "D'awwwwwww!" The two looked towards the door and saw a whit horn. It quickly dissapeared and the door slammed shut. Coraline laughed nervously and Cee scratched the back of his head.

                   "Um..hehe, you can let go of my hoof now." She said. "If you want to." Did he want to? To be honest, no. He didn't want to let go. His hoof shook a little, resisting Cee's urge to keep it there, but was losing. His cheeks were bright red and he wasn't thinking. "You're a little weird, Cee. But that's the best part about you." She said, noticing his body language. He laughed nervously and used his other hoof to drop the one against Coraline's.

                   "It kinda...runs in the family. S-sorry about that."

                   "Don't be! You can hold my hoof when ever you like-I mean! Ugh! I said that out loud!" She buried her face in her hooves. Cee laughed at her shy display.

                   "Now who's weird?"

                   _______________________________________________________________________________

'Head On Collision'

                   "...So, anyway! Pinkie threw the pie into the teacher's face!" Red laughed as the went on about the day's past events to Sky, who only walked beside him and nodded. "It was hilarious!"

                   "Sounds like it was." Sky said quietly and empty of emotion. Red hadn't picked up on it.

                   "It was! I'm telling you, Sky. You should start coming to school with me and Cee. We would get in sooo much trouble!" He said with such excitement. Sky liked seeing Red like this, all full of energy.

                   They had been walking and dragging the cart for about half a mile now. Cee's place was not too far ahead and they stopped by Sugar Cube Corner to grab some sweets for them, Cee, and Coraline. If she was still there. The road between Cee's house and the actual town part of Ponyville was just long row of fences on one side, with several street lamps, and a view of Sweet Apple Acres. You could see the sun bounce off the top of the many apple trees that surrounded the farm. Sky loved this road and wish he lived around here. "Hey. Sky! Yoo-hoo!"

                   "Wha? Huh?" Sky had lost himself in his mind while Red talked about...something.

                   "I WAS talking about what we should do for the show tonight, but you were in la-la land." He lowered his head and sighed. "Sometimes, Sky. Sometimes..."

                   "What?" Sky said looking at Red. "Sometimes what?"

                   "Nothing." Red looked up at Skylark and quickly turned away. "Dude. Seriously. For the fifth time! Take off that stupid hat!"

                   "And for the fifth time, no!" He scoffed and looked off to the side. "You're a stupid hat..."

                  Red face-hoofed. "Why? What could you have possibly done to your mane to make you wear you MOM'S frilly hat? It couldn't be THAT bad. "

                  He had a point there. The hat was a dark lavender hat, made by Rarity for Twilight's wedding dress, and had pink flowers around the rim. Sky was annoyed now.

                   "It's bad enough, Red. It's bad enough."

                  They walked a little while longer before stopping for a snack break. It was getting pretty hot. The sun shot it's rays down upon Sky and Red. They had forgot to pack water, which is a normal thing for a colt to do, but pack huge containers of fresh apple juice. Sky took a cup from the cart and poured in the juice. Red laughed to himself, causing suspicion.

                   "Red. What's so funny?" Sky asked before taking a drink.

                   "Oh, nothing...Just a little something I 'borrowed' from my dad's secret cupboard." He took a small bottle with a label that had writing that was scripted in cursive. "It's a fancy cider...wanna try it?"

                   Sky played with the options in his head. "Why not? It's just cider." Oh-ho-ho, but this wasn't any ordinary cider. No, this was cider...that was aged twenty years. This cider had been made in Applelousa by some old crazy pony, who was famous for his rich beverages. Red poured a small bit of it in with the juice. He walked over to Sky and offered some. Sky nodded and Red poured. After the bottle was put away, the two leaned against the fence. They tipped their glasses to their lips.

                   Sky had trouble swallowing his. He coughed a bit and scraped his tongue against his teeth, hoping to get rid of the taste. He had never thought something could be both really sour and incredibly bitter. He looked over to Red, who downed his in one gulp. Sky's jaw dropped at this display of ignorance.

                   "Red! You're supposed to sip your cider!" Sky hissed, still with that sourly and bitterly taste in his mouth.

                   Red scoffed. "Oh, please! You're one to talk! When we tried cider last year, you chugged it like it was water."

                   Sky blushed. "I was thirsty...Anyway, how are you feeling?"

                   "What?"

                   "I mean about the cider." Sky quickly added. "What did you think?"

                   Red pondered for a few moments. He took note of the taste in his mouth from the cider, observing the sourness and the bitterness as they worked together in the drink, plus the age. "It was okay."

                   "Well that was abrupt."

                   "Oh, what do you know. How was it for you?" Red asked.

                   "It tasted like I licked the rim of a public toilet." Sky said with disgust.

                   "So you enjoyed it?" Red said confusingly.

                   Sky face-hoofed. "Forget it. Like you care about what I have to say anyway."

                   Red's teal eyes grew wide. "Whoa. Geeze, Sky, where did that come from?"

                   Sky soon realized what he said, but he didn't care. "I...I don't know. Look, can we just drop it?"

                   Red stomped his hoof and walked towards Sky, with annoyance in his eyes. "For Celestia's sake! Why are you being so passive, today? It's not the hat, it's not the drink, it's not even about the show later! Something's going on in that head of yours and you're going to tell me!"

                   Sky felt rage build up in his chest and knew he could end it all right here and tell him, but he wouldn't get it. He never gets anything. "What makes you think that it has anything to with you? Huh? Maybe, I just woke up on the wrong side of the bed! Or maybe, I'm a little peeved about my mane! Or maybe, and this is a big one, maybe, my friend, who I've known most of my life, is the most clueless, insensitive, ignorant, ill behaved..." Sky sulked to the ground against the fence.

                    Red looked at his friend. He was no longer angry, he never was. He just wanted to know what's been eating at him. He didn't want what happened a while ago to happen again. Besides Cee and Spike, Skylark was his best friend. They've been friends since they were foals and their mom's went to the same day care center. Red hated seeing him like this and he wanted to help.

                    Sky turned away when he felt Red sit next to him. Red caught a glimpse of his eyes. They were hazy and teary. His cheeks were rosy and he shook a little.

                   "Skylark...Please. Tell me what's wrong."

                   Sky still looked away, but shook his head in response.

                   "Why?"

                   Sky mumbled something incoherent under his breath.

                   "Sky, speak louder."

                   "You wouldn't understand." Sky said in almost a whisper.

                   "Why wouldn't I understand?"

                   "You just wouldn't..."

                   "Come on. Why wouldn't-"

                   "You just wouldn't alright!" Sky snapped. Red jumped back a little, but kept the same expression. he stood to his hooves and dusted himself off. He then reached down and grabbed Skylark, pushing him against the fence. He went faced to face with his friend and went silent. Sky's blue eyes were rimed with tears.

                   "I'm not letting you go. Not until you tell me what's going on." Red said calmly. Sky looked into his eyes and saw that he was telling the truth. He lowered his head on Red's shoulder as he tried to struggle, but to no avail.

                   "Sky! This is stupid!" Red was furious now. "Look what it's doing to you! I'm here. Tell me."

                   Red wasn't letting up, not to mention letting up on his grip. Sky stopped struggling long enough to face the facts. He wasn't going anywhere until Red found out what's bugging him. He only wished it hadn't have to be in this fashion...

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Author's Notes

Welcome back! It feels so good to be back at directing Cee and his pals. Yes, yes, Drama. One of life's pendulums. Anyway hope the returning Chapter filled that hole in your subconscious that this story hadn't filled in a long time. Me, C.D., Red, Skylark, Coraline, and Spike are all very happy to be back and are excited for wherever this story goes.

~The Colts Are Back In Town!

-TLC