The Secret of Sheldon Clopper.

by theanonymousbrony

Foalsitting

The next day, everypony was fidgeting with anticipation as we were all waiting for the bell to ring. When it did ring, nearly everypony was bursting through the door as Ms. Cheerilee tried to tell us, "Now remember students, the field trip to Canterlot is tomorrow. So make sure you get to the train station on time." But I'm pretty sure that nopony took any notice of that.

As I was walking out of the school, I noticed that Pecan was talking to some fillies who quickly rejected him. Rumble and Button were snickering over his failure, while the Cutie Mark Crusaders seem to be feeling sorry for him. When Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara had walked by, you'd expect them to start calling them names at some point, but instead they just sort of ignored them and continued on in a brooding silence. (I'm guessing that after my little confrontation from yesterday, that they must've lost the will to bully others.) Anyway, the crusaders just went back to their clubhouse, Rumble and Button both went with their brothers, and Pecan just short of walked away in a sulky mood. Which means that the only option for me was to just go straight home.

As I entered my house, I went to the living room and saw both my parents lying down on the couch in a deadpan manner. My dad looked at me and said in a mopey tone, "Hey son, how was school?"

I levitated my board and chalk and wrote down, "It was all right," I then erased that short sentence. "What's wrong?"

My mom then said, "Oh it's just our ten year wedding anniversary, and your father and I were hoping to go do something special."

My dad added, "The only problem is that we would have to leave you alone, and we're a little worried about taking that risk."

"Couldn't you hire a foalsitter?"

"And just who do we know will be willing to look after you while we're away?" my dad asked.

"You could ask one of our neighbors."

"I guess we could," my mom agreed, "but who can we hire on such a short notice?"

"How about Tex?"

My parents thought for awhile until my dad said, "I guess we could go with him." And without wasting anymore time, my parents got off the couch and had taken a ten second walk to Tex's house.

The second my dad knocked the door, he and my mom were both greeted by Tex. "Well howdy neighbors, what brings y'all around?"

"Oh not much," my dad told him, "we were wondering if you could look after Sheldon for tonight?"

"Oh sure I can, but what's the occasion?"

My mom said, "It's our wedding anniversary, and we wanted to do something special for tonight."

"Well if it's a good night that y'all wantin', then I'll be more than happy ta foalsit yer boy. Besides, my little bro seems ta be a little down today; so some quality time with his friend could cheer him up."

...

Later that night, my mom had donned her fine, red dress, while she was helping my dad with his tie. As they were preparing themselves, my mom took the time to go over the rules with me. "Now remember to mind Tex while we're gone, Sheldon. And you make sure that you get to bed on time."

"No worries, Mom."

When the door started to knock, I quickly put my board back around my neck while my dad went to open the door. "Glad you can make it Tex, and I see you brought your brother with you."

"Yeah, like I said earlier, Pecan could use a little quality time with yer son." As soon as my parents left, he placed a bag he was carrying on the coffee table while Pecan sat next to me. "So Sheldon, Pecan told me that Apple Bloom kissed ya yesterday."

Without using my Mind Powers, I wrote on my board, "How did you know that?"

Then Pecan said in a depressed tone, "Me and the others were watchin' ya from the clubhouse."

Boy, somepony's got a cloud over their head. I then saw Tex take some kind of notebook out of his bag and showed a picture to Pecan--which I'm guessing was suppose to brighten his spirits. After looking at the picture, I wrote for Tex, "Did you draw that?"

"You bet I did," he said. "Drawin' just happens ta be my special talent." He then pointed to his Cutie Mark (which was a pencil over a piece of paper). "Yep, I was very surprised when I discovered my special talent; but not as much as my dad. He was hopin' that my talent would involve plumbin', kinda like his. But when he realized that my true destiny wasn't goin' ta involve helpin' him in his business, he had a feelin' that there would be some kind of tension between us. (Which is probably the main reason why I decided ta move ta Ponyville.)"

At that point, he decided to show us more of his pictures. After probably showing us the thirty sixth drawing, Pecan let out a groan and said, "Are ya just gonna show us all yer pictures?"

"Well I ain't got nothin' better ta do at the moment," said Tex. "Besides, I'm expectin' some company to arrive any minute."
And that's when the door knocked.

He went to open the door, and then enters Applejack. She ruffled Pecan's hair as she said, "Well howdy there, Pecan, yer brother's been borin' ya ta death?"

"He was showin' us his drawin's."

"Yeah, that stallion sure does love ta draw." That's when she turned her attention to me. "Well look who we have here, if it isn't the little lover-boy who's been courtin' my little sister." My cheeks started to turn red when she said that. "I heard that ya walked her home yesterday; were ya tryin' ta be a sweet, little gentlecolt ta her?" I nodded my head. "Well that's good ta hear. Because ta tell ya the truth, my sister could use a little boyfriend of her own. Ya know, ta take her mind off of her lack of a Cutie Mark."

Tex then wrapped his hoof around Applejack as he told us, "OK, you two just stay put and have some fun, while me and Applejack go upstairs." And so they both went upstairs to probably do some more "foalplay". (Hey, as long as they're not doing it in my room, then I'm OK with it.)

While we were having to listen to the sounds of grunts and moans, I took the time to ask Pecan something. "So Pecan, I noticed you were talking to some fillies." I erased that sentence, "Have you gotten tired of Minuette?"

"No," he said very glumly. "It's just that after we saw Apple Bloom kiss you, the other's made some kind of remark about me never havin' a girlfriend. So I was tryin' ta prove ta 'em that I could get fillies ta like me; except it seems ta me that they don't exactly have any likin' tawards me. And I've been thinkin', does Minuette only like me out of pity that no other girl would ever want ta be with me? Could it be that...I may never have a special somepony of my own?"

Seeing that he's in some kind of hurt state, I did what all best friends do in a situation like this, and that's comfort him. "Pecan, I might not be an expect on love, but I'm sure that somepony might love you."

"Yeah, the only girl who seems ta care about me is Minuette; the only problem is I'm too young fer her. And even if I do get old enough, how do I know that she won't already be datin' somepony else at that point?"

"I highly doubt that that would ever happen to you," I erased that bit of information. "You're always so nice to her that I for one can't imagine her of all ponies not wanting to be with you when you grow up."

"Ya really think so?"

"Well I may not be able to look into the distant future, but I'd like to think the two of you could be together."

Pecan started to lighten up a little bit as he decided to discuss another topic. "So anyway, are ya gonna come on the field trip tomorrow?"

"You mean the one to Canterlot?"

"Yeah, so are ya goin'?"

Knowing that Celestia would probably spot me in a millisecond, going back there would probably be my death warrant. So I wrote down, "I'm not sure."

"Why not? You said so yerself that ya used ta live there."

"I know, but I didn't exactly like it there."

"Come on Sheldon, Apple Bloom will be there. And who knows, you might have a chance ta actually start somethin' with her."

He does kinda have a point; nearly everypony wishes to one day go to Canterlot, and a farm girl like Apple Bloom would definitely find the experience to be amazing. So I wrote down on my board, "I might give it a shot."

Meanwhile, my parents were at that fancy restaurant that Silver Spoon forced me to go to as they were celebrating their anniversary. (They both know that they agreed to not go for anything expensive when we'd first came here, but they made an exception since this is their anniversary.)

As they waited for their meals, my dad took out a box and said, "It's for you, Diane."

My mom opened it and was amazed as she looked at the diamond necklace. "Why Jack, it's beautiful!"

"Yep, a beautiful jewel for my beautiful wife."

As she put it on, she felt a bit of guilt in her as she said, "Oh Jack, if only we weren't trying to make a low profile for our son's sake, I would've gotten you something just as expensive."

"There's no need for that; you're the only gift I need." After giving each other a quick kiss, that's when the waiter brought their meals.

As they were eating, my parents were reminiscing about how they came together. "Jack, you remember the first day we met?"

"How could I forget? We were both freshman at the most prestigious university in all of Equestria."

"I could never forget when I asked to borrow your pencil."

"Yeah, and in return you had to go to dinner with me."

"Ah yes, I especially loved those dates that you and I would take for the next four years."

"But the one day I had to love the most was graduation."

"I know, that was when I told you that I was pregnant."

"And that was also when I proposed to you."

"Now here we are ten years later."

"Yep, just two ponies who love each other who were blessed with a wonderful son."

Upon bringing that up, they both seemed to have some kind of dread clouding over them. "Do you ever worry that Sheldon might be taken away someday?" my mom asked.

"There's not a day goes by that I have a nightmare of that dreaded day that'll eventually come," my dad said solemnly. "But the important thing for us to do right now is to make sure that Sheldon's secret is well hidden, and that Celestia and nopony else will start to catch on."

...

Two hours later, my parents were just walking back to the house when they saw Tex--with Pecan hanging on his back--and Applejack come out. "Howdy, how was yer anniversary?" Tex asked.

"It went swimmingly," my dad told him. "How's Sheldon?"

"He and Pecan were plumb tuckered out," Applejack explained, "so I went and tucked him inta bed fer ya."

"Speaking of which, I better get my little bro ta bed; he and his friends are gonna be goin' ta Canterlot tomorrow."

"And I better make sure Apple Bloom doesn't oversleep as well. Bye y'all!"

As soon as they left, my parents had gone into my room to watch me sleep. As they were watching, my mom said to my dad, "He looks so peaceful."

"Times like this I keep forgetting that he's getting older by the second."

"He deserves a normal life; if only Celestia didn't want somepony of his kind dead."

"I know that our boy deserves better than this, but there's nothing we can do to change that. Sheldon was born a Mindbender, and he has to make sure that nopony finds out. Well, let's get to bed Diane."

When my dad left, my mom had stepped towards my bed and planted a goodnight kiss on my forehead. "Goodnight, Sheldon."

Comments

[Canary In The Coal Mine]

I'm still finding this story interesting to follow, though I'm surprised it lacks the [Slice of Life] tag. It's definitely more that than adventure, methinks.