Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"And now, we return to My Little Pony!"

Everyone sat sleepily in the Noceda's living room. Luz sighed deeply; while she was happy that Hunter found a comfort here in the human realm, she was worried for him. A day hadn't passed since Belos's defeat where he didn't watch countless hours of My Little Pony. Although everyone rejoiced at the defeating of Belos, Hunter's happiness seemed to have fizzled away almost immediately afterwards.

A ringing echoed throughout the room, and all eyes snapped towards Camila Noceda holding a bell. "Alright, familia! What shall we do today?"

Luz, Vee, Amity, Hunter, Masha, Gus, Matt, and Willow all looked dully at her and mumbled incoherent responses, clearly wanting to stay at home.

Eda squinted her eyes. "She said, what should we d-" She stopped at the feeling of Raine set their hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry!" Although slightly insulted, Camila continued. "I have lots of ideas. We could go to the zoo-" Gus winced, remembering his close encounter with a giraffe. "-we could go to the park, a new art exhibit opened up, we could go for a walk in the forest-"

At this, quiet Vee piped in. "I-I like that idea...the forest one...we could maybe go to blow off some steam...calm down..." Although she trailed off, the children did look genuinely interested. Masha nudged their partner and smiled, extremely keen on the idea.

Matt scoffed loudly, dismissive of any idea whatsoever, and Gus rested his chin on his hands, admiring Matt.

Camila smiled widely. "Oh, wonderful! Although...it would disrupt the wildlife if we all went as a massive group, so how about we go in twos or threes?"

At this, Matt abandoned his sass and, blush clouding is face, announced, "Gus and I will go first!" gripping Gus's wrist.

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As soon as they stepped foot out of the house, Gus turned to Matt.

"Matty! What was that all about?! I-I don't want to go in the creepy, dark, ABANDONED forest first. Why couldn't we have let someone else go?"

Matt paused at hearing Gus call him 'Matty' but steadied himself.

"Sorry, heh, guess Steve was right about me being impulsive...we...can get someone else to do it first?" Matt fixated on his feet, trying to shake off his guilt. His intention was to make Gus like him more, not mad at him.

Gus looked at Matt and felt compassionate. "It's...it's fine. Let's just go and be over with it. Maybe it'll be relaxing?"

Matt nodded, and then they stepped into the forest.

The woodland noises and the cool shelter of the trees comforted Gus immediately and he walked peacefully. Matt did not take the calm approach. His spirit became one of an ape or a monkey as he climbed up the now red trees (how similar to the demon realm!) and leaped between them, challenging himself on how far he could jump.

"I dunno, Gus, you can be a pussy, but this is fun." Matt flashed his signature smirk.

Instead of brushing it off like he usually does when joking with Matt, Gus started to think about how sensitive he is. How his friend had to bully him before befriending him. How he let him. How he can't control his powers. How he overthinks everything. How he's scared. How he has nightmares about Belos. How he's scared. How he wants to leave now. How he's scared.

As if the world was turned on its axis, the forest suddenly flooded with darkness. Matt looked over at Gus, concerned by how quiet he was. "You okay?"

Gus turned to face Matt, a phony smile plastered on his face.

"Yup. Just enjoying the calm." His voice broke on 'calm', and a flicker of blue in his eyes couldn't be masked.

Matt noticed the beginning of a breakdown and panicked. "Um...this- this isn't like what happened with the illusion at school, right? Right, Gus? Right?" He didn't know what to do; Gus was such a powerful witch and a spell like that was beyond his (or anyone's) control.

"It's not. It's not, it's not, it's not. Just...don't worry, okay? I'm fine. I'm super fine. I'm great. It's okay. I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm fine..." He blinked, and then cerulean replaced the regular warm smile in his eyes. This was like the illusion that happened at school. It was, it was, it was. He wasn't okay. He wasn't fine. He wasn't fine. He wasn't fine.

"Gus..." That was all Matt could get out before a shrill squeal replaced every word in his vocabulary. A small blue circle emerged from inside Gus, producing a glow like no other. It started off no bigger than a grudgy ball; it did not end that size. It grew and grew and grew, trapping Gus in his own anxiety. By the time Matt tried to do something, the orb was the size of some of the trees.

Matt realized that he was the one who could pull Gus out of this, so he dove in.

The darkness blinded him. The silence deafened him. But more than anything, the numb feeling of the atmosphere broke his heart.

"Gus? Can you hear me? Guuuuuus?"

As if they were in a play and there was a set change, his surroundings imitated room 318, or the room where Human Appreciation Society is held.

"I hear you. I hear you loud and clear, Mattholomule." Mattholomule? Not Matty? "I hear you taunting me. I hear you lying to me. Mocking me. Manipulating me. I hear you not standing up for me." Surrounding them, members of Human Appreciation Society pointed at Gus and laughed, making faces and torturing him.

As quickly as it had become room 318, it was now the illusionist graveyard.

"I hear you make fun of my powers." An illusion of Bria appeared, imitating a crying baby, fists clenched by her eyes. Angmar and Gavin lingered behind her, looking down on Gus, who was now sitting on the floor.

Matt began to sob. "I-I'm sorry! I'm so, so sorry! I never meant to be mean...you're my best friend."

As he said those words, the illusion faded, and as did Gus's glowing orb. He turned to look at Matt, face blank.

"You mean it?"

Gus smiled and helped him to his feet. "I mean it." He pulled Gus into a tight hug, then they walked out of the forest.

"Love you. Squirt."

"Love you. Jerk."