"...And that class, is all! There will be no homework from now on, so enjoy your summer vacation!"
The cheerful words of the teacher, Miss Cherilee, resonated withing the minds of each and every filly and colt inside the room. Cheers and screams filled the calm air of the classroom as the final day of their school ends, giving birth to the beginning of their months-long vacation. Smiles were plastered on each child and pony as they packed their belongings, clearing their desks clean of books and random sheets lying idle under their desks.
The strange equations and shapes on the chalk board lost its meaning the moment that my teacher ended the lesson: it all didn't matter now, for I wouldn't have to apply such techniques in their everyday lives for quite a while. Young children and their pony friends frantically messed about, chatting and discussing their plans for their vacation whilst I sat on my desk, my thoughts waging war inside my mind as I play around with my blonde hair.
'This is it! It's time!'I wonder what's for dinner...'
'How am I going to do this?''Come on, be brave! Girls like brave guys!'
'What am I going to do in the summer?''Maybe I should meet up with Applebloom later...'
'Tell her! Tell her before she walks away with her friend!''WOHOO, SCHOOL'S OVER!'
The blur of classmates passed Jake, one of whom happened to his best friend, Applebloom.
"So, watcha' gonna do for the holidays bud?" She cheerily asked. "Wanna go apple picking with me? We'll have apples of fun! Like we can play apple tag, snow apple fight-even though theres nawt really any snow in the orchar-OH we can go anotha quest with the gang! How about that?"
"Heh, it's alright Applebloom, I'm gonna take some time off today. I think I'm ready." I replied, a confident smile creeping across my lips.
"Yur ready?...oh. Well, alright. Ah'll be nearby, just in case ya back out like a sissy like last time." She smiled. Her smiles always looked strange whenever we spoke about it. It's always different from when she smiles when we play together. Maybe it's a thing that girls-oh, sorry: fillies, do.
"I swear, I'll do it this time. It's now or never man, and I can't just waste all this energy for nothing." I looked outside the window, to see the cause of my lovesickness. I ogle at her as her mane rhythmically bounces from her proud gait."Why not waste it with me?" Her tiara glitters brightly alongside the gems attached to them, which has long been ignored by the colts and children after they've seen it day after day. But not me, no, I'm always astonished each time I've seen it, sometimes out of amazement and sometimes out of jealousy.
"Hm? did you say something Bloom?"
"Oh, it's nothing. Ah just said that I'll be picking trees after this whole thing is done, if it ever happens." She jeers playfully. We both laugh as we trade weak punches to each other. I pick up my bag and Applebloom's, like I always do, since it's only common courtesy, and we head out of the classroom and outside to the summer world.
Heading out of those doors gave me a brief sense of freedom, freedom that I'll be able to do anything I want for months on end. Freedom that'll let me spend time with my uncle and his marefriend, Applebloom and her family...and hopefully Diamond Tiara and hers too if I ever get the chance.
Since we were the last ones to leave the school, there only a few fillies and colts left waiting for their own parents. Good. That's really good. It just means less people to see me if Diamond Tiara...if she....well...if she rejects me. But I'm sure it won't happen. Not when I have my charms on my side!
There she is. Right there. Standing with the filly that is blocking my chance to speak to her: Silver Spoon. The bane of my existence, the joker to my batman, the octopus guy to my spiderman. If my confession were to fail, it'd be her doing.
"Hey, Bloom?" I whispered.
"Yeah?"
"Mind if you can get Silver Spoon out of here?"
"But what about you?"
"I'll be fine," I ruffled her bow, causing her mane to push out simultaneously. "If you do this, I'll spend all the time you want playing apple games in your orchard." I smiled.
"A-alrighty!" she performs a salute as her cheeks turn red. She dashes in front of me, aiming for her target.
"Hey Silver Spoon!" She exclaims whilst running towards a tree.
"What do you want, blank flank? Can't you see I'm talking over here?" Silver Spoon spoke.
"I found some...uhh...Silver....Spoons? Yes! I found some Silver spoons! Come look!" Applebloom acted as she curiously dipped her head behind the tree.
Like a moth to a flame, my obstacle drifted from her partner, her eyes entranced and her mouth agape. Diamond Tiara wasn't all too happy about it either, judging from her attempts to snap Silver Spoon out of her trance through the use of shouting and screaming, mocking her friend for believing a blank flank.
This is it.
Now's my chance.
"Uh, hi." I spoke meekly. Diamond Tiara's ears flicker as she continues to snap at her friend. Slowly her voice dies down, losing it's pace and anger as the seconds went by until it came to a full stop.
"What do you want?" Her dismissive tone was more than enough to shake my very foundations completely, if it were not for my courage and bravery feebly backing me up. Come on Jake, you can do this, you can do this.
"Nice weather we're having, right?" I start off with an easy conversation topi-
"Of course it's sunny, it's always sunny." She replied. Her uninterested demeanor was dealing critical hits to my planned conversation, and I already felt the butterflies wrangling about inside my stomach, adding more ways to stop me from speaking.
"Y-yeah."
"Why are you here? don't you have your parents to go to? no wait, let me rephrase that: don't you have a blank flank waiting for you?" She said snidely.
"If you wanted to know, I asked her to get Silver Spoon away from you." My voice trails off on the last words, but I know that she heard them clearly. "I wanted to talk to you...alone. Just us, that's all."
"What? are you gonna confess to me or something?"
"Well...yeah...I guess I am." I saw her ears flick back, along with an innocent blush sporting on her adamant look. I don't know if I'm doing well, but all I hope is that this ends well, because I won't probably ever do this for another million years. It's too embarrassing to do.
"W-well...go on." She stuttered.
*Deep breath*
*Exhale*
"Hi, Diamond Tiara. My name is-"
"Jake."
"Y-yeah. Anyways, I just wanted to say that at first impressions, you didn't seem that friendly to some of the other fillies, especially after you earned your own cutie mark. Now I know that those are a sign of your ambitions and such, and getting it must have been a pretty momentous occasion."
"It truly was, it's only a shame that you humans won't ever experience that feeling." She chuckled half-heartedly, as though she was unsure whether she meant it or not. "Anyways...go on."
"I really don't know why I like you, your behavior towards other fillies and colts should be more than enough for them to see you in the wrong light. But...but every time I look at you, every time I see your proud smile, your shiny tiara, and your...perfect image, well...it just gets to me. I know you probably hear this a lot, but you really do look beautiful, at least to me you do."
My palms sweated, my heartbeat went faster than it should, my chest ached and my eyes were glued to the filly. The chilly wind refreshed our bodies and blew my hair from the hot sun. I could see Diamond Tiara's cheeks getting redder by the minute as she listens to me pouring my heart out.
"I know that you generally have a dis-interest in those who haven't earned their cutie mark yet, but I was hoping that you'd make an exception just this once. I'm not as popular as you, nor do I have the bits to call myself rich. All I can give to you is my...love, and maybe a few hugs. I mean every single word, you know, it took me years before I could even say hello to you every once in a while when we get paired up for lessons. To be able to do this....to be able to speak to you for this long without me cracking up and running away from nervousness, it would've taken a miracle."
She giggled.
"So what I'm trying to say is...well..."
She waited.
"I...."
Her eyes stared at mine.
"I really.....really..."
I kneeled to her height.
"Super duper really..."
I held her cheek.
"Love you...Diamond Tiara, I love you. Not like, love."
I felt her soft coat and her quick pulse as one of my fingers slipped to her neck.
"So...will you accept a blank flank's confession?" I gave a hopeful smile.
Everything felt right. Everything felt so right. She totally likes me back, doesn't she? she wouldn't have stayed this long if she didn't. She must like me.
"Jake..." Her soft words reached my ears, this was it. It's now or never. "I..."
"There you are sweetie! Daddy's been looking everywhere for you."
The moment shatters as I hear a familiar voice enter the side of my ears, my hands instinctively pull back as Diamond Tiara looks to find her father staring at us with curiosity, with his head tilted to one side. His tie and suit marks his authority and his cutie mark is his name. Filthy Rich was his name, and his daughter was right in front of me.
"D-daddy!" Was all she said as she hurried to him. She nuzzled him and he did too, whilst keeping a stern eye at me.
"Was this...what do you call it..'blank-flank' ... making you uncomfortable?" He stared at me as he spoke with a quiet tone.
"Nono...he was just confessing to me like...like all the other colts do!" She smiled.
Like all the other colts do.
Her eyes spoke differently than her mouth did. It looked like they didn't match. Her eyes looked sad, but the moment I stopped looking at them, her mouth acted back to her ways. I guess she just pitied me.
Yeah, I guess that's all.
"Don't worry about him daddy, it's not like I'll ever be friends with him!" She giggled.
"That's good to hear sweetie, now hop off human, my daughter and I have had enough of your shenanigans." He spoke dismissively as they turned away.
And there I kneeled awkwardly in the sun. My eyes never leaving the sight of Diamond Tiara. My chest felt like tearing in two, and it feels like the butterflies have died inside me. My eyes were turning blurry, maybe because I was losing my sight, or maybe because I was about to cry. Everything felt like falling apart the moment I began to let go, to drop myself to the ground and face the sun to be cooked alive.
I never knew that getting rejected could feel this bad.
It felt way worse, way worse than I thought it to be. All that effort gone to waste, all the moments of wanting to say that you liked someone, all gone now that you ruined your chance with them.
If only I did this sooner, if only I told her before her father would arrive, if only I knew when her father arrived, then maybe things would have been different. But how am I so sure? she already implied it to me as she spoke to her dad.
Maybe I'm just stupid for falling in love with cute ponies, maybe that that's just it.
"Watcha' looking at darling? Is that hooman watching you again?"
"It's nothing. I just saw another confession."
"Don't worry darling, I'm certain you'll find your special, polite, somepony."
"Yeah..."
'I'm looking at him.'
Jake, I'm sorry.
"Are you alright there Jakey?" I hear Applebloom's soft voice inside my rambling thoughts. I gather myself and sit upright to face her solemnly.
"Did it work?" She said.
I shook my head.
"Then don't give up! let's try again and again until that posh filly is your marefriend!" She brings up her face close to mine, her happy aura easing my pain. My hand reaches out to rub her cheek as I chuckle lightly.
"You're right, but as of now, I owe a certain filly an apple game or two." I smiled as she did.
This time she smiled differently.
This smile...this is one I've never seen before.
I guess this is one of those things girls do.
