The Belle and Bloom Show

There was a bright light. A distorted pattern of darkness. Then there was a pulsing of light above. It was all very confusing. There were sounds all around, talking, but it was impossible to make out. What language was that? And what was that high pitched ringing?

There was nothing.

The light was intense, blinding. I couldn’t open my eyes all the way. Where was I? My head was spinning.

Eventually, my eyes adjusted. The blinding light was a light hanging from a ceiling. A ceiling to what I couldn’t say. It looked office-like.

I attempted to turn my head to my left to get a look at my surroundings. Something was wrong. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t feel my neck or any other part of my body. From what I could tell, I was lying on a bed of some sort.

I was exhausted. The light faded in and out of my mind as I dozed off.

I awoke with a start. My body was on fire! I gritted my teeth, grunting. It was the worst pain I had ever experienced.

“She’s awake! Nurse! She’s awake!”

I knew that voice. That was Applejack.

“Oh, sugarcube, don’t you worry. Nurse Redheart will be here any second.”

I couldn’t respond. The pain was too intense. My head was spinning, my ears were ringing, and I felt sick to my stomach.

A rapid clip-clop sound rose from somewhere off to my right. There were a bunch of hushed voices talking rapidly. My mind couldn’t parse what they were saying.

Then something warm spread through my entire body. The pain wasn’t so bad. It was suddenly very mild and manageable. My mind felt a little loopy; I couldn’t quite focus.

“Apple Bloom,” said a sweet voice. “Can you hear me?”

“Y-yeaah.” It was strangely difficult to talk.

“Good. Do you know where you are?” the voice asked.

The answer seemed to have arrived in my mind right after being asked. “‘Ospitle,” I said, struggling to make proper sounds.

“It’s alright. I gave you something for the pain. It’s going to make talking a little difficult. But that’s okay. You’re doing great!”

The voice was very reassuring. It seemed to ease my inhibitions away. Or maybe that was the drugs taking effect… I raised my head ever so slightly. I immediately regretted it. The room was spinning. Lights were blurred, out of focus, Applejack was a fuzzy orange ball. I held very still, and slowly the room came into focus.

The first thing I saw was a very tired and frantic looking Applejack. I looked down at my own body. To my horror, everything was wrapped in bandages.

“Apple Bloom, listen to me,” said the sweet voice. I looked to my right and saw a white earth pony with a red cross of a cutie mark. “Apple Bloom, you fell over fifty feet. You have three broken legs, four broken ribs, several more are likely fractured, and a fractured shoulder.

“You are lucky to be alive. And you are very fortunate you didn’t break your back.”

Fifty feet? The control room! “Sweetie Belle!” I shouted. “Hurry, she’s in danger!” It hurt in my chest to yell, and I had trouble breathing after.

“She’s safe, sugarcube,” said Applejack. “It’s been almost twelve hours since the show.” Applejack stifled a yawn.

Twelve hours?

I looked around the room again. On my bedside table, I saw a vase full of flowers, several cards, and a sizable stack of candies. Beyond that, I could see a pink hue of the rising sun out my window.

I collapsed back into my bed.

“I’ll be back in a little to check on you,” said Nurse Redheart.

“Where’s Big Mac?” I asked. My speech was getting easier, but it felt like I was speaking extremely slow.

“He was here all night, sugarcube. He had to go feed the animals. I’m sure he’ll be back soon.” Applejack took a seat in a chair next to my bed. “How are you feeling, sugarcube?”

“I-I feel weird. There’s a little pain... “

“If ya start hurting, just press this big red button, okay?” said Applejack, pointing at a red button next to my bedside table.

A sudden sickening realization dawned on me. “Where’s Talent Scout?”

Applejack’s face went stern and she scowled. “Twilight has half the Royal Guards searching for him. It seems he teleported out of there after throwing you out.”

A wave of grief struck me, like a kick to the gut. Tears were streaming down my cheeks, and I couldn’t stop them. “I-I’m sorry, sis. This is all my fault.”

“Shhh, no it ain’t. That stallion was psycho.”

“I-I could have s-s-stopped him! B-but I w-was scared!” I couldn’t control myself. It must have been the pain killers.

“Shh, it’s alright, sugarcube. It’s all over now.”

“He-he was so horrible.”

“I know… I heard the things he was saying,” Applejack said in a soft voice. It was a voice I hadn’t heard since I was a little filly.

“An-and h-he kept t-touchin Sw-Sweetie and—”

“Shhh. It’s alright, sugarcube. It’s all over. Shhh. It’s not your fault.”

“Y-yes it is!” I yelled back. Why didn’t she get it?

“I-I d-didn’t say a-anything!”

Applejack rubbed a hoof across my face, drying my tears. “It’s all over,” she said again. “He won’t hurt you anymore.”

I couldn’t think anymore. My chest was hurting, I was short of breath again.

“Just rest, sugarcube,” said Applejack with a yawn. “Just rest,” she muttered, and dozed off to sleep in the chair.

Time seemed to move at irregular intervals. I would doze off, have wild dreams, and wake only to find ten minutes had actually passed. Other times, I would come to a realization that I had been staring at a wall, or mindlessly gazing out the window for hours.

The sun had risen by time Mac returned. He too, looked tired, but nowhere as bad as Applejack. He had brought the comforter from my bed, my pillow, and my old teddy bear. I smiled at him. He smiled back, but I could see the worry buried past his warm smile. My brother was the kind of poney who never talked much, but when he did, it was because he had something worthwhile to say. But if you really knew him, you’d know he could tell you everything with a single look.

“Thanks, Mac. You’re the best.”

“Eyup!” His eyes traveled down my body to the various bandages, slings, and casts.

“It probably looks worse than it feels,” I commented.

“Apple Bloom,” he said suddenly. “When I saw you fall, it was like in slow motion. You hit the ground so hard… I thought—I thought I had lost you—” His big green eyes welled up with tears.

It stung in my chest, seeing such a big strong stallion like Macintosh, reduced to tears. He was always so stoic, so understanding; he was so strong he could rip a house from its foundation, but he’d never hurt anypony. There were many different types of strength, though, and perhaps his greatest strength was having a tender heart.

“Whatsamatter,” muttered Applejack as she startled awake. Her eyes fell onto Mac. “Ya just get here?”

“Eyup.”

“G-g-good.” Applejack yawned.

“Sis, you can go home and get some sleep,” I said. “I ain’t going anywhere.” I chuckled at my own joke, but instantly regretted it as pain stabbed my chest like a thousand needles. “Ow.”

Applejack gave me a reproachful look, like she wanted to tell me off for making such a joke, but she decided the pain I received was punishment enough.

“Sis, you’re tired. I’m fine—as fine as I can be, Mac is here. Get some rest.”

Applejack sighed. “Alright. I’ll be back as soon as I wake up. Keep an eye on her, Mac. and make sure RedHeart brings by all of her medications and food—”

“Eyup!” said Mac, forcefully. He gave Applejack a reassuring nod.

I smiled. I was vaguely reminded of how Sweetie Belle wouldn’t stop worrying and fussing over things—Sweetie Belle… where was Sweetie? AJ said she was safe, but that doesn’t mean she’s not hurt…

I must have dozed off several times as the hours went by. I couldn’t remember who came in or who left. I heard voices, but they seemed so far off. I couldn’t process what they were saying.

I awoke with a start. It was bright, and my body was in extreme pain once again. This time the pain wasn’t stabbing me, but just several dull aches. I hit the big red button once. The effect was almost instant. A surge of euphoria surged through me, the ceiling was spinning, and I felt weightless and spacy.

I drifted through time and space. The ceiling wasn’t spinning, nor what I! Equestria was spinning, and I was anchored to the center of it, watching it spin around me. I could fly out of this hospital and go anywhere. I could leave Equestria… no… I could take Equestria with me. Yeah, that will do. I’ll take all of Equestria wherever I go. Why no? Celestia could move the sun, Luna could move the moon. So why couldn’t I move Equestria?

After some time, the strongest effects started to wear off. I realized I was still in the hospital, in my bed, still very much broken in almost every way possible. There were voices outside my room, but I couldn’t make them out. One of them was hushed, the other was talking loudly.

In the corner, Mac was fast asleep in the chair. AJ would be mad if she walked in here and found him like this, but I saw no reason to wake him.

The door flew open. I saw out of the corner of my eye, an orange and purple blurr.

“Apple Bloom!” said Scootaloo loudly.

I cringed. The sound echoed in my ears, and seemed to bounce around in my mind.

“Sorry,” she said quickly. “I-I just had to come see you as soon as possible. I was here early, but no pony would let me in until now,” she said quickly. “I was so worried… but everyone said you were going to be okay,” said Scootaloo quickly. “Anyway, that show… awesome!” Scootaloo squealed. “You rocked so hard, got into a fight, and fell over fifty feet! That is so punk rock!”

I smiled. Or I think I smiled. My face was numb.

“How are you feeling?” she asked with a more serious tone.

“I don’t feel too bad… I don’t feel… much?”

Scootaloo’s eyes fell onto the red button. “Yeah, I know what you mean. I had that button from some of my Scooter accidents.”

“I don’t remember you getting banged up this badly,” I added.

Scootaloo shook her head. “Heh, I never broke three legs at once… no. I can only imagine the pain you must be in. But it will be okay. These ponies here will take care of you.”

“Thanks, Scoots.” She seemed her normal cheery self, but there was an absence I couldn’t help notice. “Where’s Sweetie? Is she okay.”

Scootaloo’s cheery expression fell instantly. She looked uncomfortable, maybe even a little scared. “She’s safe... “

“So I’ve heard… “I said darkly.

Scootaloo grimaced. “I was told not to tell you.” Scootaloo looked around the room, spotting Mac sound asleep for the first time. “Look,” she said in a hushed tone. “After you fell, a lot of things happened at once. It was chaotic. Talent Scout teleported out. Most of the attention was on you. Most ponies thought you were… you were…” tears welled up in Scootaloo’s eyes. She quickly wiped them away. “Sweetie was found hours later hiding behind the control panel. It took them twenty minutes to convince her to come out of there. She thought, like many of us, that you were, you know… it happened right before her eyes.”

I felt sick. I hadn’t even thought how all of this might have looked to other ponies. “But she knows I’m okay…” I said matter-of-factly. “I'm sure somepony told her I’m fine.” I paused and looked around. “Relatively speaking of course.”

Scootaloo shook her head. “I’m sure she was told. But she has refused to leave her room, refused to eat, she’s just been sitting there.” Scootaloo shook her head, but she couldn’t keep the tears out of her eyes. “It’s like she’s not there when you talk to her. I think—I think she blames herself for all of this.” Scootaloo buried her face into her hooves and turned away from me.

Sharp pains shot through my chest, and they had nothing to do with my injuries. “Scoots, I would hug you tightly if I could,” I muttered. “It’s not her fault. It’s his fault. It’s my fault for not coming forward sooner. I should have told Applejack. I should have told Twilight after the second show…”

After a few minutes Scootaloo composed herself and turned around. “It’s not any of your faults. He took advantage of all of you. Dosie got me caught up on the whole thing. It’s just awful.”

“The whole thing is a mess. I hope Twilight can catch him.”

“She will,” said Scootaloo confidently. “No pony had seen Twilight that angry before.”

“Scoots, you have to try to get through to Sweetie Belle. I’d go to her, but I can’t go anywhere. Convince her to come see me.”

Scootaloo sighed. “I can try. She may not want to come see you like this.”

“Please,” I insisted gently. “She needs to know I’m okay. She needs to know it’s not her fault. She needs to know… I-I love her.”

There was a pause of dead silence. Then Scootaloo’s eyes lit up. “I always wondered. Look, um, I’m going to leave that to you to tell her… but fair warning, now is probably not the best time to confess your undying love.”

I stifled a laugh, fearing the pain it would cause me. I’m sure my face was bright red even though I couldn’t feel it. “Finally somepony who didn’t know,” I muttered under my breath.

“Actually,” said Scootaloo. “I said I always wondered, meaning I suspected it. You don’t hide it as well as you think you do.” Scootaloo was smiling again. “I think it’s… cute. And it’s obvious she cares a great deal for you.”

Scootaloo was known for being a loud tom-colt filly with a very crude sense of humor, and for being very open about her sexuality. Under that was a soft and gentle filly who sometimes made you forget about her more abrasive nature.

“And filly on filly is tons of fun! You can literally go all night long.”

Sometimes.

I face hoofed with my one good leg. “Scoots.”

Scootaloo shrugged. “Just stating a fact. Here’s another. Once you get out of this body cast, you’ll be so horny, you’ll think you’re in the worst heat ever. You’ll be humping the bed, the floor, the walls, pretty much everything you can shove your vage up against.”

“Scoots,” I grumbled. “Not now… please.”

“Okay, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“I-I can’t even think about that stuff right now…”

“Of course not!” replied Scootaloo. “You’re high on some pretty strong shit. Just you wait though.”

“Yeah it makes me feel like I’m floating.”

“You know what else makes you feel that way?”

“Shut up!” I snapped. We both started laughing. I was crying out in pain between laughs, which made me laugh harder for some reason. “Ow, damn it, Scoots.”

“Sorry.” Scootaloo sighed and sat down in the chair next to my bed. “It’s been pandemonium all night. You guys really shook Ponyville with that show. A lot of ponies didn’t really know what to think. I was rocking out though. I freakin loved it! I think there will be some really interesting articles in the paper about it today.”

“I’m not sure I want to hear about it,” I said. In retrospect, our show seemed like a foalish rebellion.

“Are you sure? I could read some of them to you. I don’t think the music is going to get negative reviews,” said Scootaloo earnestly. “No pony had ever seen anything like that. The sounds were heavy and dark and menacing, Sweetie’s vocals were raw and unrefined. The effects were horrifying. Sweetie setting herself on fire was only the second most insane thing going on. The ponies of the machine, coming out, hooded, masked, all looking the same, marching out of the red smoke, sparks flying from under their hooves. It was truly horrifying to see.”

“That was what we were going for,” I said. “I’m glad you enjoyed it.”

“I was up in the box with everypony. Applejack loved it, Rarity was freaked out, Rainbow Dash thought it was a masterpiece. Twilight… she analyzed the whole thing right after.” Scootaloo rolled her eyes. “Like we didn’t know what it was about.”

“Sweetie wanted to be blunt and in your face about it.”

“Which makes it so awesome!” Scootaloo screeched that last word. “The point is, I think the majority liked it for being edgy, stunning, horrifying, and just so different than anything else. You never know what you’re gonna get at a Belle and Bloom show… that’s what the ponies are saying these days.”

I sighed. We arrived there at last. Talk of the actual production. I wasn’t sure how much Scootaloo knew, we didn’t tell her a lot, but after the events of the last show, I’m guessing she had a good idea. “I’m not sure what’s going to happen now.”

“Me neither. I just hope you two can keep rocking like that.” Scootaloo glanced at the clock nervously.

“If you gotta be somewhere… that’s cool,” I said quickly.

“It’s nothing… I’m just meeting Dosie for lunch.”

“Oh? You two are a thing now?” I asked.

Scootaloo blushed a little. “We… um we do things together.”

I rolled my eyes. Just what I needed to know…

“Come on now, you know how she is. I heard you turned her down. Saving your first time for somepony in particular?”

I ignored her. I was open to talk about these things but not on the level Scootaloo was. She would gladly tell me every little detail if I had asked. But she was right. I was ‘saving’ myself for a very special pony. I wasn’t like Scootaloo or Dos-à-Dos who seemed to get it on at the drop of a hat despite my heat-addled fantasies.

“Sorry,” muttered Scootaloo. “You don’t want to talk about this stuff right now.”

“Not really,” I sighed. “I’m glad you and Dosie are… um—”

“Buck buddies?” suggested Scootaloo.

“Yeah… I-I mean she’s really nice and I think if she learns to trust, and you two can be more than buck buddies.”

“One thing at a time. Anyway, I could find a newspaper. I’m sure there’s all kinds of interesting takes on the show—”

The door swung open, and in walked nurse Redheart. “Oh, I see you have some visitors,” she said warmly when she noticed Scootaloo. “It’s lunch time, “she said briskly to me.

Upon her mentioning lunch, I only then realized I hadn’t eaten since before the show, and it wasn’t much as Sweetie had everyone running around until the very last minute. I really wanted a hay burger. Or maybe an apple tart.

Nurse Redheart, however, didn’t have hay burgers or apple tarts. What she did have was a cup full of some puree with a thick straw sticking up. The puree was so thick it held the straw straight up and down.

“W-What is that?” I asked.

“It’s a mixed vegetable puree. It’s full of important vitamins and nutrients your body needs right now.”

I took the cup in my good hoof. The cup was surprisingly heavy. Reluctantly, I took a sip. It wasn’t bad per se. It wasn’t good either. I was pretty hungry, so I didn’t slow down slurping down my lunch.

“Hungry I take it,” remarked nurse RedHeart, mostly to herself it seemed. “How are you feeling?”

“Better,” I said. The ‘food’ took some away the real loopy and spacy feelings I was getting from the painkillers.

“Good. We are working on some potions to help you heal. They will take a little while to make. Until then, you’ll just have to get by as is.”

“How long will it take to heal with the potions?” I asked.

Nurse Redheart thought for a moment before answering. “About a week. Give or take. But you’re gonna have to hang in there a few more days.”

I smiled. That was the best news I had heard all day.

“Anyway, I gotta meet up with Dosie,” said Scootaloo casually as she slid out of her chair. “I will be back later.” She gave me a reassuring nod and left the room.

No sooner than Scootaloo leaving, Twilight came strolling into the room. My heart sank like a rock. Her facial expression was grim. She looked tired and overall not in a good mood.

“P-princess,” said nurse Redheart.

“I need a few words with Apple Bloom,” she said. Nurse Redheart nodded and left the room quickly.

The room was dead quiet. Twilight simply stared at me. Was she mad at me? Exhausted? Was she going to yell at me? I stared right back at her. Then she looked at Mac, sound asleep in the chair.

“He’s, um, sound asleep. A stampede couldn’t wake him up,” I said nervously.

Twilight let out a long sigh then sat down in the chair Scootaloo had been sitting in. “Are you feeling okay?” she asked at last.

“I’m doing alright,” I said.

“You look pretty banged up, but I reckon they are getting you fixed up here in no time,” Twilight remarked matter-of-factly. “Ahem, anyway, I need you to recount everything that happened last night. We have not been able to find Talent Scout, and Sweetie Belle isn’t talking to anypony.”

A knot turned in my stomach. I knew it. “How is she?”

“Traumatized,” said Twilight quickly. Twilight shook her head and softened her expression. “She’s been through a lot—both of you have been through a lot. A lot more than she knows how to process. She will come around when she’s ready.”

“I hope so. Twilight, this is all my fault. I failed to come forward weeks ago, heck, months ago.”

“Come forward with what?” ask Twilight. She tried to keep an expression of interest, but I could tell she seemed uneasy about something.

I launched into the tale of how I got involved, how Talent Scout treated me, how he treated Sweetie Belle, and how he tried to take control over the show, and how he went berserk after our show.

Twilight looked sick to her stomach. “Okay, wait stop. You’re saying he touched Sweetie Belle in an inappropriate way several times?”

I nodded. “And from what Sweetie told me, that’s how he and the rest of these producers are.”

“You should have come forward immediately,” Twilight chided.

“I-I know. It’s all my fault. I was going to go with Dosie after the second show, but then Sweetie warned me, it would have been the end of everything. He owned the show and everything about it.”

Twilight shook her head. “Yes, but you two tricked me into funding your latest show which was some kind of revenge piece!”

I sunk down into my bed. “I-I’m sorry. I-we thought we could handle it. We thought we had the situation under control!” I felt like I was the one in trouble, not TS. Twilight was interrogating me, and making me sound and feel stupid. “I-I was scared of what he might have done!” I blurted out. Tears were running down the side of my face again. I couldn’t help it. The more I thought about it, the more I reflected on it, this was all my fault.

Twilight was taken aback. “Apple Bloom,” she said softly. “I’m sorry. You’re not in trouble. I’m just tired and frustrated. I had just reached the ground level when we heard commotion coming from backstage. I heard someone scream fight. Applejack went to check it out. A-a few seconds later, there was an explosion of magic, your body falling out of the control room, and that sound... “ Twilight shuddered. “I’ll never forget that sound when you hit the ground.

“I saw other ponies rush toward you. I flew up to the top box, only to see a flash of light, and Sweetie Belle huddled in the corner, scared out of her wits.”

I cringed, just imagining what breaking three legs would sound like. “We didn’t trick you. We really were done with Talent Scout. He wrote a disgusting script because he hated me, for some reason. I guess I’m not hot or something. We became a different production company and decided to do a show calling out TS and others like him. I’m sorry if you thought we were trying to trick you or pull a fast one.”

Twilight sighed. “The way you two did it…” Twilight trailed off. “You two accomplished a lot. It’s very impressive what you two have done, and you should be extremely proud! But you’ve been taken advantage of. You two need a manager you can trust, who really knows the business and can help you.”

I nodded. It made sense. We weren’t business ponies, and we knew nothing about contracts. “That would be nice.”

“I will look around for somepony trustworthy,” said Twilight. “That is, if you two keep doing this.”

“Are you still going to be our patron?” I asked, hopefully.

Twilight nodded. “If you agree to stay away from terrible producers and avoid some of your more, um, dangerous acts on stage.” She smiled. “And speaking of producers, I talked to a few while trying to hunt down Talent Scout. They told me after the Filly Tonix fell apart, mostly because of Talent Scout’s mismanagement, that he was desperate to get another chart topping show. Silver Serenade was snatched almost the second the Filly Tonix was no more by another producer.”

“Mismanagement?” I asked.

Twilight nodded. “The Filly Tonix went broke. They believe Talent Scout was taking all of the money for himself to pay off other debts. He was fired from managing some colt band before the Filly Tonix, I forget which one. He had a lot riding on that show.”

“I guess that’s why he went crazy. But that doesn’t explain why he was so touchy-feely with Sweetie, and probably others. He flat out said he owned her, and implied that if she still wanted to have a music career, she had to suck his—”

“I get the idea,” said Twilight quickly. “The producers I talked to didn’t say anything about that stuff. But I’ll be sure to ask them,” said Twilight firmly.

“They weren’t the ones doing it,” I said quickly. “I’m not accusing them of anything.”

“I know. But these are serious accusations, we have to follow up on them. He’s already wanted for attempted murder. It looks like we can add sexual assault to his wrapsheet.”

I scrunched up my nose in disgust. “I hope you get him, Twilight.”

“Oh we’ll get him,” said Twilight. “Oh, there’s just one more thing: what was the contract you signed with him?”

I shook my head. “I never signed anything. Sweetie said she could hire anypony. This whole time I thought her contract gave her creative control over the show. It turned out that was only a verbal agreement.

“Once he saw I wasn’t some skinny sexy thing he couldn’t shove into a leotard, he hated me. He had no real intention of letting Sweetie continue what she was doing.”

“And then you two came to me,” said Twilight. “That all fits together.”

I glanced sideways, but Twilight caught my guilty look.

“You might as well come out with it. All of it,” Twilight snapped. “I will find out.”

“We… um, we may have failed to inform him we were no longer working under him. In fact, Sweetie told him we were doing his script.”

Twilight brow furrowed as she glared at me.

“We never used any of his money. That’s why we started the other production company,” I added, but Twilight was still looking less than pleased. “Sweetie—we were angry! We didn’t want to just walk away—”

“And you wanted to tell him how you really felt,” Twilight concluded.

At long last, Twilight dropped her piercing gaze and stood up. “There is no excuse for what Talent Scout did. Not any of it. But I hope you see how your decisions played a part. And if you two ever want to perform anything, I’m ordering you to use better judgement! And if you find yourselves in a bad situation like that, ask for help.” The last part sounded like a passionate plea. But I was still sulking lower into my bed under her sharp tone.

“A-all I can say is I’m sorry. We messed up real bad.”

Twilight nodded sadly. “Yes,” she said simply. Then she—she smiled? “And now that I’m done chewing you out, I have to say, that last show was unlike anything I’ve ever seen! Good job! Even if it was forged out of very dubious circumstances.”

I stared in bewilderment.

“Look,” said Twilight softly. “When we saw what happened, it really scared us. And when I found out things got out of control—it may not have gone as far as it did if somepony knew and intervened.” Twilight smiled again. “You’re only getting a stern talking to. Can you imagine what’s in store for Talent Scout once we catch him?”

I smiled bashfully back at her.

“I hope you get better soon. But now I must sleep for a little while Luna searches. Hopefully we catch this guy soon.”

Twilight left the room, leaving me only with a slumbering Mac for company. I felt pretty rotten inside. A stern talking to from a princess is a pretty big deal. The only thing worse would be getting that from Applejack.

The hours slowly crept on by. My back was sore from laying on it, but I was unable to move into any other position. Annoyed, I hit the red button and let the pain killers send me off to another place.

Scootaloo returned after dinner, full of energy… and more sex talk.

“So how was your lunch with Dosie?” I asked casually.

“It was good. We just got some daisy sandwiches. Not my favorite, but they’re healthy or something.”

“So… you didn’t have any afternoon delight?” I asked, trying to hide my smirk.

Scootaloo beamed. “Nice! There may be hope for you yet.”

“Maybe for me, but for you it’s a lost cause,” I said with a wry smile.

“Heh, probably,” said Scootaloo as she took a seat in the chair next to the bed. “So any news about Talent Scout?”

I went into explaining my conversation with Twilight. I was halfway through it when Applejack had returned and started yelling at Mac for sleeping the whole day. Mac left a few moments later grumbling something that sounded like ‘it’s not like she’s going anywhere.’ After another few minutes of Applejack fussing over me, I continued my story in a lower voice. I would have to tell Applejack everything, but there was only so much verbal abuse a filly could take in a day… and besides I didn’t want Scoots to be there when I talked to her about it.

“Sheesh,” muttered Scootaloo after I had finished. “And then she said the show was awesome? Maybe she was just jealous you guys rock so hard.”

I eyed Scootaloo with a suspicious expression. “Yeah... totally what it is.”

Applejack was sitting in the back of the room reading the paper. I’m glad she was mostly out of earshot. Scootaloo didn’t exactly have a good filter. She never said anything too crazy around Applejack, but she did slip up once in a while.

“So, did you find out why Talent Scout hated you so much?” asked Scootaloo.

I shook my head and explained to her my theory about not being the right body type for a really tight leotard and not being eye candy for him. “You know… I’m just not that good lookin.”

Scootaloo huffed. “Who cares what he thinks. He’s just some creep. You’re totally hot. I’d do you in an instant.”

I rolled my eyes. “Ha ha, Scoots. But seriously—”

“For real. You’re really freakin good looking, and, like... I’d totally do you.” Scootaloo’s face was bright red. “Er, if you wanted,” she muttered.

I could feel heat on my face. She always did have to make things awkward. Thankfully AJ heard none of this. “I-I’m flattered. But is there any pony you wouldn’t sleep with?”

Scootaloo glared. “I like sex, but I do have standards,” she snapped.

“I’m sorry, Scootaloo. That was mean. I should just learn to take a compliment. Even an unorthodox one.”

“And not have such a negative outlook on your body. Dosie thinks you’re hot, half the freakin town probably thinks that. Don’t let some lunatic drown out your support.”

“You’re right.” I was still taken aback by Scootaloo’s declaration that she’d have sex with me. Truth be told, she did appear in some of my fantasies. “Anyway… after that shocking revelation…”

Scootaloo gave me a wry smile. “I know you have this whole majical first time thing, probably with Sweetie, but well… the offer is on the—”

“Shh! Do you hear that?”

Scootaloo shook her head. “No.”

“Listen… it sounds like music.”

“I think you’ve done a little too many pain—I do hear something.”

A growing sound rose from outside my window. Several ponies had gathered outside my window. Unicorns were using their horns as lights, and they were singing. They were singing one of our songs!

“If you trust your rebel heart, ride it into battle,
“Don’t be afraid, take the road less traveled,
“Wear out your boots, kick up the gravel,
“Don’t be afraid, take the road less traveled on.”

“Well ain’t that nice, sugarcube,” said Applejack getting up from her chair.

I couldn’t help but smile. What a perfect ending to a terrible day.