Roger sniffled, wiping his eyes.
"Was it that obvious to everyone but me?"
Max, on his end, sighed. At 15, he already felt he was Too Old For This Shit.
"I mean, I could tell you were attracted to my ponified brother, yeah, but..." he sighed, collecting his thoughts. "...Roger, why don't you come to spend the weekend with us. Tony and I are headed with our parents to the new ranch we're moving to, the get started moving into it before the escrow closes. We could use an extra pair of hands."
Roger stiffened.
"Y-you're moving?"
Max, quickly realizing the idea was distressing, made a soothing noise.
"It's still in the school district. About two miles from town."
Roger sagged in relief, which Max presumed from his audible sigh.
"...Yeah, Max, I'd love to join you guys."
Max nodded. He...suspected, but didn't know for sure, that Roger's interest in Tony was a bit less masterful than his own. And at his heart, Max was a good kid, a good friend, and a good master - he knew Roger's brother was a homophobic and ponyphobic asshole. If Max was right, then he felt he had a moral obligation to get Roger away from Adam's abuse.
'And if I'm wrong, well, it's not uncommon for racing ponies to be cared for by teams even when they're owned by an individual. Maybe Roger might be interested in that,' he thought to himself. He and Roger chatted for a while longer, and Max got at least a sense of how miserable he'd been that day, before they hung up. He thought of Tony by contrast; yes, he'd spent the day smarting from his wounds, but those were healing nicely and he'd been able to sit comfortably at the table for dinner. He'd exercised in the yard somewhat perfunctorily at first, but by noon he was clearly enjoying being a pony on display once more, strutting and preening every time there was a passerby. He even seemed to have developed a taste for his pony food - a state of affairs which visibly pained their father, since it indicated a more deep-set love of the pony lifestyle. Proverbially, if a young man tasted pony food for the first time and said he liked it, it meant he was destined for ponydom. Stuff and nonsense, of course - the same recipes with minor modifications appeared in regular human health bars and meal supplements all the time. Still, it was considered a good rule of thumb.
'...Maybe I should offer one of his treats to Roger, and not tell him what it is...'
---
Roger had barely paid any attention in class on Friday, either. His parents had readily agreed to let him go away for the weekend - their distance and aloofness were often an asset in such matters even as it was a crippling liability most of the time. Adam, of course, ragged on him all through breakfast.
As such, Roger decided he had no desire to repeat the experience at the end of the day to pack. He approached Max at the end of the day while the other was depositing his things in his locker.
"Hey, Max."
"Hey, Roger. Ready for this weekend?"
"You bet...hey, uh, question."
Max finished loading his books into his locker, closed it, and turned to his friend.
"Shoot."
"...Did you guys throw out all of Tony's human clothes yet?"
Max snorted, rolling his eyes.
"No. Dad refuses to even let us put them into proper storage, so they've all been stuffed into my closet. It makes finding my clothes a pain every morning."
Roger looked embarrassed.
"...Tony was about my size when he was human. Can I...Can I just come straight home with you, and borrow some of his old stuff for this weekend?"
Max perked up and lanced Roger with a gaze.
"...Sure. Why?"
"...I...don't want to go home."
Max nodded, slowly. It was at least as bad as he suspected then. Maybe more.
"...Sure. Come on, it's close enough to my place to walk - of course, after the move, I'll be driving Tony to school every day. He's looking forward to being hitched to the post with the rest of the ponies, if you can believe it."
Roger chuckled; he could certainly believe it, although he knew Tony also enjoyed occasionally joining in on regular activities like going to the movies. He found himself daydreaming about Tony's life now, as he had on and off all day.
Max saw the distant look in Roger's eyes as they walked. He narrowed his eyes, and surreptitiously reached into his backpack. He pulled out one of the less obvious pony snacks, one that looked mostly like a granola bar. However, looks aside, this brand had a reputation as being the, as it were, least human-friendly recipe; it was, in essence, straight pony feed, with a bit of molasses to hold it together.
"Hey, do me a favor, try this. It's a new snack food I found. Friend of mine gave me one but I didn't care for the one I tried - they come two to a package, that's why this one is in a ziplock baggy."
He handed the bar to Roger, who sniffed at it. It had an earthy aroma, which he actually found quite pleasant. He took a few bites, smiled around his full mouth.
"Thanks! It's delicious!"
Max smiled, too.
'It's going to be an interesting weekend...and hey, pretty soon I'll have two ponies for the price of one.'