Younganon day 8 pt 2

>…
>It’s around lunch time and now that you and Big Mac have patched things up, you’re ready to do what you wanted to do the first moment you got here.
>ADVENCHARRR!
>Considering you practically got days off from school this week and maybe next, you could do just about anything, provided you always come back in time for chores and food.
>Whitetail Woods sounded forest-y enough to be a good spot for your first adventure.
>It lacked the monsters, magic and mystery that the Everfree held, and was farther away, but it was the only place you were allowed to go outside of town, and that was only if Big Mac joined you.
“We can have a brotherly bonding experience!”
>”Haha, eeyup!”
>Plan hatched and lunch cleaned up, the two of you set off to Whitetail Woods.
>A long trail was set out before you, stretching through trees of all kinds, many of them maple.
>You could see the taps and buckets set on them, and looked inside one.
>It was about half full of sap.
“So when does this turn into syrup?”
>”Ah don’t raghtly know, bro. Ah assume it’ll get turned into syrup when it’s full.”
>Can’t have all the answers.
>Hours later, you have come to an agreement.
>This place was boring.
>You could barely climb at all, with the lowest branches being so high you couldn’t reach them on Big Mac’s Back.
>The trail led through the woods, but if you stepped off the trail, you wouldn’t find more trees, but just another part of the trail.
>It’s like they were just bunched up around the path.
“Why are the trees all close like this?”
>”Fer the running of th leaves come fall, ah suppose.”
“Running of the leaves?”
>”Well here in P0nyville, settler ponies were all earth ponies, so we had to change the weather durin the seasons ourselves, and without any magic. During fall, we run right through this trail to make th leaves all come down.”
“You guys control the weather?”
>This was neat new information you hadn’t picked up yet.
>You knew that things like rain were run out of Cloudsdale, and that pegasi could move clouds, but whole seasons? Wacky.
>”Eeyup, we sure do.”
“So you make the leaves fall in autumn.”
>He nods.
“And I assume you have clouds roll in with snow from Cloudsdale for winter.”
>Another nod.
“How did you move the clouds away for spring when you aren’t pegasi?”
>”Hard work an determination, or so ahm told. Hey, you wanna take a practice run through Whitetail before we hightail it back to th farm?”
“Do I ever!”
>As the two of you run and gallop through the trail of Whitetail, you can almost feel the spirit of many hoofbeats galloping alongside you as you majestically trek through the usually quiet wood…
>As you turn to see if Big Macintosh does too, he pulls past you, a look of fear on his face.
>You curiously look further back, and find that you were not imagining the hoofbeats at all!
>”Big Maaa~aac!”
>Colgate’s got her second wind, and she is followed by what appears to be a whole crowd of mares.
>You can spot, among Colgate, the doctor from yesterday, a white mare with a heart mark, a blue-green unicorn and another mare with a color you lack the word for. Her mark is candy.
>All of them overtake you in seconds, passing you in a cloud of dust.
>Coughing, you squint and try to see if Big Mac is going to make it.
>No, it really doesn’t look like it.
>A dastardly bro-plan evolves in your head, and you sprint to catch up to the ponies.
>As you barely take the third place mark, you hop and let out a little yelp, rolling into the dirt.
>Not like you could have caught up to Colgate and Big Mac, who were far ahead of the group.
>If this worked, the other mares would stop chasing Big Mac to help.
>Also, you didn’t think about how fast you had to go to pull this off.
>As you tumble across the ground, coming into contact with rocks, twigs and roots, you can hear the hoofbeats slow to a stop.
“Owww…”
>Oh, hey Anon, remember when you were sunburned?
>Yeah?
>You still are, the sunblock and Aloe help, but you are still as sensitive physically as you are emotionally.
>Oh gee thanks, brain.
>Tears welling in your eyes for the third time today, you bite your bottom lip to keep from crying out.
>You roll into a sitting position and look yourself over, scrapes, bruises and a bit of blood covering your arms and legs.
>There are some sticks poking into you, and you try to pull one out.
“FFFFFFFSSSSS!!”
>You hiss, unable to go through with it, as touching the offending twigs and needles gives you enough pain as they are.
>”Hey there, little guy. Are you hurt? Let me help.”
>The white p0ny with the heart, nurse Redheart, you remember Big Mac saying, kneels down and pulls a few twigs out, the other mares drawing closer.
>Looks like you got everyp0ny but Colgate to stop. Mission mostly success!
>You bite into your hand to keep from crying as she and the doctor (who reintroduces herself as Nota Vampire, pronounced no-tah vam-pee-ray) pull the objects from your wounds and wipe the blood away.
>”There, all better now.”
>She kisses your knee and offers a hoof to help you up.
>”Oh, come on Redheart, I know you’re desperate, but he’s just a colt! And another species no less!”
>The p0ny with the candy mark said that.
>”I am not desperate! Everyp0ny knows a kiss can make all the difference in healing a wound. Not physically, but emotionally!”
>Candy-p0ny rolls her eyes.
>”Yeah, I’m sure. Let’s go Lyra.”
>The turquoise unicorn with a lyre mark, presumably Lyra, looks at your hands and smiles widely.
>”I don’t know Bon Bon, I think he’s kinda cute!”
>She nuzzles into an arm you raised to shield yourself from her approach.
>”He’s just adorable! You sure you aren’t jealous Bon Bon?”
>Bon Bon, the candy marked one, comes up to you and gently pushes your arm down, away from her face.
>”You’ve made your point. I don’t hate the little human, I just don’t want you to make a huge mistake going after a child!”
>”I was just teasin you, Bon.”
>”I’m sure. Now…Anon, right? You going to be alright walking home?”
>You sniffle and nod, rising to your feet.
>It should only take you about 45 minutes to get back…assuming you were at the entrance to Whitetail Woods.
>Now? You don’t even know which direction is “out”.
>The mares seem to notice you looking about, unsure which way to go to get home.
>With a sigh, Bon Bon speaks up.
>”Alright. Lyra and I will bring the little guy back to his place with the Apples. Nota and Redheart, you coming with?”
>”No, Vampire and I have some work to finish at the clinic. I think the mood is pretty much ruined for today.”
>The nurse and doctor stalk off own the trail, back the way they came.
>”Alright, now I know which way we’re headed, and we can go straight to the end of the trail, maybe see Big Mac, and then if he isn’t there, we bring you home. OK?”
>You nod.
>The three of you begin to go right through the treelines, passing the same parts of the trail winding back and forth.
>After stumbling a few times, worn out from walking all day, then “adventuring”, then running, sprinting and falling, Lyra offers for you to ride her.
>Bon Bon interjects something about being stronger, and you end up sitting on bon Bon’s back, Lyra smiling slyly at her.
>”So how do you like P0nyville so far?”
“It’s a nice place. Ahm usually at the orchards all the tahm, have only ever been to the doctor’s, the library and Colgate’s. I went to Sugarcube corner too, ah guess.”
>Kind of sad how you hadn’t even explored the town in its entirety yet. Maybe that could be your goal this week?
>”Well I don’t suggest going much of anywhere for a while. Estrus makes mares a little despereate here after a while. It’s only the first day and we all followed Colgate on the promise of seeing big Macintosh.”
>Bon Bon facehooves, halting for a moment to do so.
>”Really, it’s embarrassing enough Lyra, please don’t go explaining it to the colt, or he won’t stand a chance next year.”
>”Aww, come on, Bon Bon. Can you imagine anyp0ny actually trying something with this little guy come estrus? He doesn’t send out the same hormones or anything! He doesn’t even register as a possible mate!”
“Why do you keep calling me a colt?”
>”Because you are a young male, I.E. a colt.”
>Oh, ok.
>”At least he didn’t ask what mating was, eh Bon Bon?”
“That’s because when ah’m old enough, Granny’s going to tell me.”
>Lyra bursts into laughter.
>”OH! OH GEEZ! HAHA! Wow, I sincerely hope I am present to see that trainwreck.”
>Minutes later, you clear the treeline and follow the borders to the other side from the entrance.
>Big Macintosh isn’t there, but Colgate is.
>”Oh! Anonymous! Sorry, I think I scared big Macintosh back to the farm. Could you tell him I want to see him please?”
“I think he already knows that.”
>She blushes, then gives you a wry smile.
>”Tell you what, I’ll walk you home…and we’ll both see Big Mac. How does that sound?”
>You really don’t want to be alone with her. Big Mac said she was the craziest of the mares.
>”Come on, you can trust me, I’m your dentist!”
>”Sorry Col, but we beat you to it.”
>”Better luck tomorrow. We’ll watch over Anon here.”
>Lyra gives you a playful noogie.
>Colgate gives a huff and stomps the ground once, her face changing from playful and mischievous to serious.
>”I’m sure you two just want Big Macintosh ALLLLL to yourselves, DON’T you?”
>She’s bordering on crazy now.
>”Psst, Lyra.”
>”Yeah, Bon?”
>”Run!”
>Your escorts gallop off towards Sweet Apple Acres as fast as they can, Colgate in hot pursuit of you for the third time today.
>Wow, if this was the first day of crazy week (or weeks, you couldn’t remember) you did not want to see what happened tomorrow.
“Where’s Thunderlane anyway?”
>Being the only other male around, you were curious.
>”Well as soon as he heard about Estrus, he just up and left, back into his cloud home with the rest of his family.”
>You didn’t realize you had wondered aloud.
“Oh, good. He’s really mean.”
>”Ha! You’re absolutely right, little guy. Back when we were in class, he’d tease us all the time. Call us filly-foolers. Despite the fact that I had a boyfriend already and Thunderlane was a few years younger than us. Being the older students, we were expected to not take action though.”
>Bon Bon said that whole thing with a look of annoyance evident on her face.
>”If it wasn’t for Estrus, that little punk wouldn’t have a CHANCE at finding a mare. And he’s too afraid to stay down here during that time. I don’t mind it.”
>You laugh. It feels pretty good to bring this bully down below your level…but your gut kind of hurts.
>Isn’t this more bullying? You really shouldn’t stoop to his kind of tactics, talking behind his back and gossiping.
>Colgate gives up after 5 minutes with a  frustrated yell.
>When you finally near the orchard, you can see Applejack and Big Macintosh searching around.
>”Here’s your stop little guy.”
>”You were pretty fun to hang around. Meet us up for some snacks at Sugarcube sometime after all this Estrus stuff is done, eh?”
>You nod and hold out your hand to shake.
>Lyra shakes her head and telekinetically forces your hand closed into a fist, then bops it with her hoof.
“I thought that was a brohoof?”
>”It is!”
“…so now you’re my family now too?”
>Lyra looks uncomfortably at Bon Bon.
>”Err…no. I just respect you, little guy. You can have bros that aren’t brothers too, you know?”
>Didn’t know, but sure.
“Well goodbye, ah can walk from here. Thank you for taking me back.”
>”Sure thing, Anon. So long!”
>Lyra and Bon Bon trot off towards P0nyville when Big Mac finally spots you.
>”Aw shoot Anon, ahm awful sorry about rushin past ya lahk that!”
“Ah know, but ah enacted mah master plan an got the other four mares to stop an help me!”
>”Bro-est of bros, Anon.”
>You hold out your fist and he taps it with his hoof.
“The bro-est.”
>As you settle in bed later that night, you remember to ask Big Mac about bros.
>”So yer wonderin how another p0ny can be a bro an not yer brother?”
“Yeah, we’re bros and we do the fist-hoof punch thing. Lyra also did that.”
>”Well some p0nies take friendship to a level not unlahk bein family. Ah suppose that was Lyra’s way of sayin you’re a pretty cool colt in her books, an she wants to be friends with you.”
>Neat.
“Thanks, good naght bro.”
>”Good naght.”
>…
>”Anon?”
“Hmm.”
>”Ah forgot to go to the shelter.”
“Mmm-hmm?”
>”We’re gonna have to dodge Colgate every day for two weeks now.”
>Oh.
“Well shoot.”