Remnants of a Dream

Chapters

Consequences
Royal Advice
A Professional at Work
Girls Talk
Third Time is the Charm ... Right?
Boys don't Talk
What Remains of a Dream after you Wake Up

Consequences

Scout was just about to enter the shower when he registered something on his cheek. He stepped closer to the mirror and rubbed his eyes to get them to work correctly. There surely was something on his cheek, he just didn’t recognize what. In a desperate attempt to get a clearer view he switched on each and every light in the bathroom. The bright white one over the mirror finally did the trick.

It was faint, almost invisible in poor lighting, but there definitely was something red. He squinted and tried to get his eyes to focus on the stain by sheer force of will. “Is that…?”

Something warm and wet pressed to his cheek.

His vision obscured by a curtain of red and gold.

Somebody whispered in his ears.

Deep turquoise eyes ask him for acceptance.

Scout shook his head to chase away the memories. “…Lipstick!” He mumbled as he brought a hand to his cheek. Once he had registered the faint red stain on his face it was almost impossible to miss. Careful, as if a hasty move could destroy it, he brushed his fingertips across the lipstick.

After a few seconds of reluctance he started to rub his cheek. Gently at first, but with every passing heartbeat he became more determined. When it felt like his skin started to get sore he stopped and brought his fingers in front of his eyes. He definitely saw red stains on his fingertips. “It wasn’t a stupid wet dream.” He exclaimed surprised and smiled at the mirror. “Applejack, Sunset and I had sex last night!”

It took Scout barely three seconds before he remembered another fact and his smile dropped instantly. “But the girls were gone this morning and Sunset seemed like she didn’t remember anything. Did they forget last night or…” his shoulders sacked a little “… or do they want to forget it?”

Scout never was a morning person and his brain tended to be rather pragmatic and pessimistic in the first one or two hours after he got up. Because of this he was almost instantly convinced that the girls had decided to forget it, that the night was a mistake and that he would never speak of it again. Therefore, with the enthusiasm of a death row inmate, he showered and prepared to leave Las Pegasus.

The trip back to CHS was rather uneventful. Scout had taken a seat at the front of the bus, avoiding so much as to even look at Sunset or Applejack. Instead he went for the tried and tested strategy of any man that wanted to avoid a conversation with a woman, he pretended to sleep.

Sunset was normally not all that fond of remembering the things she did before Princess Twilight first appeared at Canterlot High, but she was pretty sure her evil schemes and plans had always been top notch. This one however didn’t seem to work all that well.

Applejack and Sunset sat alone at a table in a corner of the cafeteria and debated about the latest turn of events. “Ah don’t think that mighty fine plan ya made is workin as intended.” Applejack stated with a mixture of anger and embarrassment.

Sunset looked at her friend and sighed. “Well, my old self and my villainous pride would like to contradict. The plan worked just fine, Scout hasn’t said anything and nobody at CHS has any idea what we did in Las Pegasus.” She slammed her head on the table and groaned. “And my new self wants to kick myself for that line of thought. It wasn’t supposed to end like this. He was supposed to think it was all a dream and nothing more.”

Both girls threw a glance at the boy who was the subject of their discussion and sighed. “He avoids me like the plague.” Sunset stated coldly.

Applejack snorted. “Before we all did this he was at Sweet Apple Acres at least once a week ta’ help out or talk to Big Mac Ah reckon. Now it’s three weeks since we came back and none o’ us has seen him except in school.” The blond farm girl looked at Sunset and crossed her arms in front of her chest. “We need ta’ do somethin’ about this.”

Sunset nodded and also crossed her arms. “That’s the thing. I don’t really know what to do. Back in Equestria nopony would give a damn about the situation at all. No embarrassment or awkwardness or secrecy about it, if there was something to talk about we would simply do so. I’m all for sorting this out, but I think you know better than me how to do it.”

Applejack rolled her eyes and blew a raspberry. “Come on, it can’t be that hard ta’ learn how ya’ be nice and what not.”

Sunset fixed Applejack with a deadpan glare. “Social norms are something explained to little kids by their parents. Good luck with learning those all by yourself. You can only pick up so much without somebody actually explaining it. By the way, with how secretive you guys are about sex I consider it a miracle that you still manage to procreate at all.”

Applejack made a dismissive gesture and leaned back. “Ok, social fancies aside, Ah think talkin’ to him sounds like a good start.”

Sunset threw a sideways glance toward Scout and nodded. “I think you’re right.” She stood up and, with a nod toward Applejack, went to Scout’s table.

When the two girls approached their target however things started to go haywire. They hadn’t even crossed half of their way when Scout started to wrap up his lunch. Feeling the need to hurry, Sunset and Applejack picked up the pace to cut him off before he left. They reached the table before it was too late and Sunset gave Scout an apologetic smile. “Scout, can we…” Before her sentence was even halfway out of her mouth, the boy stood up, took the remains of his lunch and left without a word.

Applejack took two quick strides and grabbed his shoulder, making him stop dead in his tracks. “Can ya’ please listen to what we gotta say? Ah don’t know what happened, but…” A sudden twist of his neck and a glare filled with barely content rage made Applejack almost choke on her words.

Scout slowly put down his tablet, reached for Applejack’s hand and plucked it off his shoulder. The girl scrunched her face a bit, her expression suddenly a mix of anger and sorrow. “You don’t know?!” Scout almost whispered.

Applejack stared directly at him and clenched her jaw tight. “Ya’ twistin’ ma’ wrist. Ah’ll count to five. Let go or Ah’ll make ya let go.” The farm girl delivered almost unnaturally calm.

The standoff was like a game of chicken, fought between Applejack’s legendary stubbornness against Scout’s uncharacteristic anger.

After roughly a second, Applejack took a deep breath. “One!” While the cafeteria grew a little quieter Scout stood his ground, never breaking eye contact with her.

“Two!” Applejack continued and more students turned their attention toward her, Scout and Sunset.

Sunset herself had come to the conclusion that this was spiraling out of control very, very fast.

Applejack clenched her fist and her whole body seemed to tense. “Three!”

Almost all students present were now looking at the scene unfolding in front of them. Conversations had toned down to a whisper and those closest to the impending catastrophe attempted to slowly retreat out of the danger zone.

“Four!” Applejack’s voice rang through the room as the knuckles of her fists started to turn white.

Their surroundings grew silent as Applejack, the girl infamous for her strength, raised her hand, took aim and readied herself. Before she threw her punch though, Scout let go of her wrist and snorted. “You should know very well what happened. … What you two did.” His words were but a whisper. “I’m pretty sure it wasn’t a dream.” He turned his head towards Sunset. “Regardless what you tried to make me think.”

Within an instant, Applejack froze and her eyes grew as wide as dinner plates. Sunset bit her lip and turned away as if in an attempt to hide. As Scout turned around and left the cafeteria, the girls could barely look after him.

After all was over, it took not even a minute before the room was filled to the brim with conversations about Applejack and Scout Charger nearly getting into a fight. Sunset stood next to her friend and sighed. “I think we fucked up majorly.”

Sunset and Applejack kept a low profile for the rest of the day and managed to get through the afternoon without having to answer any uncomfortable questions. Even though their friends asked a few times what happened, they managed to dodge the worst bullets. Strangely enough, Pinkie Pie didn’t ask any questions at all, she merely scrutinized the two of them for the rest of the day.

Shortly after dusk Sunset sat on her balcony and recounted the day, a bowl of cherries sitting next to her. “Scout either suspects or knows that what we did in Las Pegasus was no dream but very much real. Yet still he hasn’t said anything about it before today.” She popped one of the sweet red fruits into her mouth. “His equestrian counterpart said he had a major crush on AJ for years and that he thought I was a filly worth to get to know better. I’m pretty sure he fancied the idea of us being more than just acquaintances who both know Princess Twilight.”

Sunset’s look turned skywards. “But I don’t think the Scout Charger from Equestria would really try his luck on any other mare than Applejack. Though that doesn’t mean this world’s version of him wouldn’t.” She spit the stone that remained of her cherry over the balcony rail. “So why does he react like this?”

Minutes turned to hours as Sunset ate her cherries and desperately tried to decipher what exactly happened and why Scout was so mad that he almost picked a fight with AJ.

The next day was largely the same as the day before. Sunset and Applejack debated what to do and Scout didn’t even look at the two. The day after that continued like this, as did the day after that.

On Friday Sunset was finally fed up and decided it was time for a dramatic change in their course of action. After the group had exchanged goodbyes for the weekend and each was heading towards their homes, Sunset went after Applejack and declared her intention. “I will write Twilight and ask her for help.” She stated in a calm tone.

Applejack gulped and looked around like she expected someone to scream for her head on a pike any moment. “Ya’ sure ‘bout that sugar cube? Ah know she is pretty smart an’ all, but this ain’t exactly the type o’ problem a princess of friendship is responsible for, right?”

Sunset merely shrugged. “I see where you’re coming from, but I’m desperate at this point and if you ask me this is some sort of friendship problem. We were friends, we hurt him and now we need to make up to him.”

“It ain’t no friendship thing anymore if ya’ fucked that friend don’t ya’ think?” Applejack hissed. “’Sides, Ah don’t know if Ah’m comfortable with her knowing we did … ya’ know.”

Sunset couldn’t help but to roll her eyes. “I consider it a friendship problem and I will ask Twilight for help. I won’t tell her that you were involved if you don’t want me to. But I will ask her one way or another since I honestly don’t know what else to do.” A mischievous smile formed on Sunset’s lips as she paused for a moment. “Besides, if I remember correctly she told me her former foalsitter is the princess of love.”

Applejack snorted and gave Sunset a stern look. “Well, do what ya’ want if ya’ can’t help it. But Ah would appreciate it if ya’ kept quiet ‘bout me. Ah really don’t want ma’ family ta get wind of this. Ah already feel like a mighty piece of shit for lying ‘bout this ‘n all. No need ta’ make it worse by paintin’ me a whore or somethin’.”

Sunset nodded and smiled sympathetically. “I know your family can be a little old fashioned about some things. I’ll keep your involvement to myself and see what Twilight has to say to all of this.”

Applejack couldn’t help but smile too. “Thanks Sunny.” With a sideways glance at her watch, the blonde farm girl hugged her friend and started to make her way home. “Sorry, but Ah gotta go. Mac wants ta’ see how far the cider is an’ he always needs a hand or two with them damn barrels.”

With a smile Sunset waved after her friend. Though as soon as Applejack was out of sight she sighed and her shoulders dropped visibly. “AJ, I’d never thought you’d chicken out like this when it comes to boys. You always seem like the famous ‘immovable object’.”

When Sunset arrived at her apartment she instantly sat down at her desk, got the magical book she used to write to Twilight from her bag and grabbed a pen. She knew very well that she couldn’t phrase this ‘the right way’. Whatever she said would be wrong on some level or another. Because of this she decided to just get it over with and grab some feel good food afterwards.

Dear Princess Twilight,

I’m sorry I don’t write to you as much as I used to, but lately all is getting kind of crazy around here. No magical craziness, no need to panic there, but rather the normal boring school craziness that always hits when finals draw nearer.

Anyway, I actually write because I could use your help. We had a school trip a few weeks ago. It was great and I really should tell you about it another time, but sadly I made a mistake at the end. You see, there is this boy I kind of fancied and since we had a fun evening at a casino and went to a bar and it was the last night of the trip and all… long story short, we had sex.

I originally didn’t think any of it, but then I remembered this world isn’t as liberal as Equestria when it comes to stuff like this and so I decided to cover it up. You know, to avoid rumors about any of us. I decided to clear the evidence and trick him into thinking it was a dream. And, before you say it, yes I know I bucked up big with this one.

The thing is, he didn’t buy my story and is sure that all was real. He didn’t say anything to the other students but when I wanted to talk to him about it he was so angry, I almost thought he would hit me.

Do you have any advice for me? I was friends with him before and I would want to at least keep that friendship intact.

Your friend,
Sunset Shimmer

Sunset heaved a heavy sigh and put her pen down. She hoped Twilight would buy her story, at least for Applejack’s sake. “I on the other hoof am in for a nice little lecture I think.” She chuckled to herself.

With her message written Sunset stood up and made way to her kitchen. She rummaged through her ice box and found a half-eaten tub of lemon ice cream. “Exactly what the doctor ordered.” She said with a smile.

As Sunset returned to her living room the magical book was already glowing and vibrating. She clenched her eyes shut and put the ice cream down. “Quite fast today … this is going to be fun.” She murmured sarcastically.

Royal Advice

Dear Sunset,

I’d love to hear more about your everyday life, but I assume you’re not in the mood for small talk right now so I cut right to the chase. I’m not really the biggest authority when it comes to romantic relationships, but I am honored you ask me for advice.

For starters, I think you shouldn’t have tried to cover the situation up. I’ll admit that I’m not well versed in your world’s social norms but I fail to see anything wrong with sleeping with a colt, oh sorry, a boy you like.

What you describe sounds like a nice evening to me. You had fun, went on something that might be considered a date and then had sex, nothing out of the ordinary. Granted, I myself am no mare for the first night, but that’s personal preference.

I am however very disappointed that you didn’t talk to him about it, but instead decided to deceive him. You should know better than that Sunset. As you phrased it, yeah you bucked up big this time.

Because of this his reaction seems understandable to me. You tricked him, has seen through your ruse and is now angry because of it. I’d say apologize for tricking him and talk to him about the whole thing. I’m sure you can remain friends after that. Maybe suggesting just forgetting it and starting anew, if you think that’s best.

Your friend,
Twilight Sparkle.

Sunset couldn’t help but face palm. Of course he had to be angry because of her plot to trick him. She would also be angry if somebody pulled a stupid prank like this on her. She quickly wrote Twilight her thanks and dove into her ice cream. The next time she saw Scout she would talk to him and apologize.

With her conscience a little lighter the weekend was already a bit more enjoyable than the moment before.

Monday came and Sunset was hell bent on resolving the mess she made. Since it was her plan to trick Scout, she kept Applejack out of her plan to make it up to him. She was the one who wronged him, she would be the one to set it right again.

Sunset had left Miss Cheerilee’s English class a few minutes earlier with the classic excuse that she had that special monthly problem and needed to take care of things. It was incredibly easy to exploit this people’s shame when it came to things like this. She hadn’t done any of it since she changed her ways, but for once English was easy and secondly, it was important.

With a few minutes left till lunch break started, Sunset arrived at the door. She leaned against the wall and waited for her target to show up. After ten nerf wrecking minutes Scout showed up and before he could do anything, Sunset went in for the kill.

She closed the distance between them with long strides and smiled at him like she just had received news about world peace. “Scout, can I talk to you for a minute please?” She asked with a gentle voice.

Scout all the while looked at her with raised eyebrows and a confused look. This was nothing like what he had expected. He didn’t know what this girl was up to but he was sure it wasn’t anything good. In an attempt to compose himself, he cleared his throat, straightened his back and gave her an indifferent shrug for an answer.

Sunset wasn’t exactly thrilled at his presumed indifference, but at least he didn’t yell at her. She took a deep breath and looked into his eyes. “Look, it took me some time to realize but I understand that you’re mad at me. I shouldn’t have tried to trick you or anything.” Her voice was quiet and her eyes cast down.

For a moment it was awfully quiet, almost as if the world was holding its breath while fate did decide which way the scales of destinies would tip. Moments like this were the ones that destined the future of nations, spelled doom for entire peoples and changed the very fabric of reality. At least that was the scope which those moments had to teenagers.

When Sunset looked up she saw that Scout was visibly fighting for what he wanted to say. Finally, he gulped and his voice sounded almost fragile. “Sunset, it’s just that I don’t get it. I mean you seemed to know that I liked you and AJ. You were so confident and all, but in the next morning…”

Sunset put a finger to his lips and smiled. “It’s ok. Let’s just forget it all and go back to normal. I…” She was cut off when Scout’s jaw dropped and he locked at her like he had seen a ghost. She looked at him questioningly and tilted her head. “Is everything alright? You seem a bit shocked.”

It took almost half a minute before Scout regained a semblance of control over his expression. He took a deep breath and gave Sunset a stare that could only be described as icy. “What is this whole situation to you? Is this all a game? Do you…” He looked around for a few moments to see if anybody was listening in on them before he continued in a much quieter tone. “Do you think you can just waltz in, do whatever the fuck pleases you and then do as if nothing happened?”

Sunset was taken aback and tried to grasp what just went so horribly south again. “No! I know this is no game. I just don’t understand what all the fuss is about.”

Anger crept into Scout’s icy stare as he continued. “So you don’t even know what you did wrong in the first place and just came here to apologize anyway? What are you, seven? Did somebody tell you just apologize and everything will be fine again?” He retreated a few steps and turned around. “Let me give you a nice little quote here. The only way to hurt a man is to take away everything that he valued and degrade it and remind him of it every day.” Barely contained anger could be heard in Scout’s voice and Sunset couldn’t help but grunt in frustration. Why was this so damn complicated?

This evening Sunset sat on her balcony and stared at the sky once again. She couldn’t understand how Scout’s mood could have shifted so fast. It seemed to work at first. He was ready to talk to her, but when she offered him to just forget it and be friends again he almost freaked out and dropped this incredibly edgy quote.

The book on her lap started vibrating and Sunset stared down at it. “You’re a curious one aren’t you Twilight?” She commented in a hoarse voice.

Dear Sunset,

I know I shouldn’t be so nosy but did you already speak to that boy?

You haven’t written since I gave you my advice and I am dying to know how everything went. I hope I don’t overstep my bounds, but please write back as soon as you can and tell me how it went.

Your friend,
Twilight Sparkle

P.S.
Spike is also curious if you got yourself a new coltfriend.

Sunset sighed and reached for her pen.

Hey Twilight,

Sorry for not writing back earlier, but I only spoke to him today.

Sunset

Within seconds Twilight’s response appeared on the next page of the book.

You seem rather short on words today and I know you good enough to know exactly that something went horribly wrong for you to be like this. Do you want to talk about it?

Sunset’s pen hovered over the blank page and waited for her to finish her internal debate. Of course she could use more help but Twilight said herself that she wasn’t the best when it came to relationships. There was obviously the option to ask Twilight for help from Princess Cadance, but was this really necessary? Wouldn’t it maybe be for the best to just leave it as it was and at least stop worsening the whole situation?

With a steadying breath Sunset pushed the tip of her pen against the paper.

In all honesty, I don’t know Twilight. I now bucked up twice and I wouldn’t like to see if three times is the charm that makes him punch me. What would you do? Would you continue trying, possibly making it worse, or would you just leave him be?

This time it took almost ten minutes for Twilight to reply. Obviously Sunset wasn’t the only one thinking hard about that question.

I think I would get some help and then try again.

Sunset chuckled while she wrote.

Well, we see how this worked out the first time. But I think you’re right, in the words of thousands of dead optimists: What could possibly go wrong?”

To Sunset’s surprise Twilight actually drew a smiley of herself at the start of her next message.

:Twilightsmile:

Good to hear that you won’t give up so easy. So, what do we do next?

Sunset smiled and answered immediately.

Twilight dear, there is no kill like overkill!

We skip the part where our shared attempts at fixing this mess make it worse and bring in the big guns right away.

Would you please write Princess Cadance a letter?

Twilight seemed to hesitate with her answer.

Sunset, are you sure this is a good idea? You don’t know how Cadance can be when it comes to those things.

With a confident smile Sunset wrote.

She’s the princess of love, her expertise surely will come in handy.

A Professional at Work

Most of the time Sunset Shimmer would have said Equestria was the overall better world to live in. Granted, that might have been a highly subjective point of view, but it was her home, a little bias was to be expected.

The human world however had two significant advantages. The first was that cars, trains and planes allowed for an unprecedented average traveling speed. The second was a postal service that managed to get letters across the country in two days tops.

In Equestria long range teleportation was something reserved to beings as powerful as Princess Celestia, while all others had to travel by train, airship or carriage. Secondly, Pegasi delivered letters could take up to a week or two to arrive at their destination. But since Sunset had asked two princesses for help, neither of those two were problems. In fact, with the help of Spike’s dragon fire Twilight had sent a letter to her sister in law directly after Sunset asked her to do so.

Contrary to what Sunset would have liked, they didn’t start their talk instantly via the magical book, but instead Cadance wanted to meet her. Within an hour the three agreed on a time and a date to meet and discuss Sunset’s problem.

Next Saturday was said date and, as agreed, Sunset waited at the portal for the two princesses to come across. Around three in the afternoon, after barely ten minutes of waiting the normally hard and polished white granite of the statue turned slightly translucent and rippled like water. “Here it goes.” Sunset whispered.

Twilight walked through the portal first, wobbly like always but not that bad at all. The pink woman that followed her however was unable to cope with the sudden change regarding her center of gravity and nearly face plant it when she tried to drop to all fours.

Wearing a big Smile, Sunset walked over to greet the two and offered Cadance a hand to help her up. “Welcome to the world of bipedal monkeys that think they are the pride of creation.” She snickered.

With a small giggle of her own, Cadence took Sunset’s hand and pulled herself up. “Thank you, Sunset.” She started to use her arms for balance. “It feels sort of unstable and I constantly have to balance myself. Is that normal?”

Twilight scrutinized her old foalsitter’s attempts to stand straight and started to correct her posture. “Your center of gravity in this body is significantly higher than what you are used to.” She pointed at Cadance’s waists. “About there, in the middle. Since you have no tail or wings to keep your balance you have to use your hips to shift your weight.”

As Cadance took her first step as a human she let out a surprised gasp when she almost fell again. “Whoa, what was that?”

Sunset snickered. “Being bipedal means you essentially fall over when you walk. Humans walk by shifting their weight slightly to one side, then lifting one leg, moving it forward and then falling onto it. To put it simply for a human to walk means to move forward in a series of well-orchestrated falls.”

Cadance turned her head towards Twilight and raised an eyebrow. When Twilight just nodded and smiled bashfully the princess of love sighed. “Twilight told me it would be difficult at first but this is beyond what I expected.” She composed herself as best as she could and smiled towards Sunset. “Anyway, I was curious about the world behind the mirror and I always love to meet one of Twilight’s friends.”

Sunset looked at her feet and took a deep breath when she suddenly found Cadance’s hand right in front of her face. “Ah, ah, ah! I know exactly what you want to tell me and I already know very well who you are and what you did.” Before Sunset could react to this sudden revelation, she found herself in a tight hug. “But I also know what you did to redeem yourself. I think you had enough time to wallow in self-pity.” A mischievous smile came to Cadance’s face. “It’s time to get you a coltfriend!”

“In this world the correct term is boyfriend.” Sunset corrected with an uncertain look to her eyes. “And I don’t know if I like how eager you are about this. Can we please aim to make him not hate me anymore, at least for now?”

Cadance shook her head and her grin grew to almost diabolical levels of glee. “I am the princess of love dear Sunset. I won’t aim for anything less than setting your hearts aflame!” A schoolgirl-like giggle escaped her. “Besides, there is no better past-time activity than shipping!” She added in a singsong voice.

Sunset looked over Cadance’s shoulder towards Twilight, her expression begging for help and a way out of this. Twilight however only sighed and shook her head. “You can’t stop her if she gets like this.” She whispered.

With no other option at hand, Sunset returned Cadance’s hug and silently prayed to the first divine being that came to mind. “Celestia have mercy, I did not know what powers I awakened.”

After Cadance had gotten accustomed to her new mode of transportation, the three girls had entered a café on the outskirts of the city. In front of Sunset stood a steaming coffee, Twilight had a mug of hot chocolate and Cadance helped herself to a big strawberry sundae.

With a gleeful shudder from the ice’s taste, Cadance looked at Sunset. “So, Twilight told me you have … boy…troubles?” Her pronunciation of boy seemed a bit odd. After all, the word usage of this world was still alien to her.

Sunset however nodded. “Well, you could say it like that. Do you want the long or the short version of the story?”

Cadance rolled her eyes at the question and smiled. “Give me the long one! You want me to be able to help you properly, don’t you?”

Sunset took a deep breath and leaned back in her chair. “Ok, first of all, I did only get to know him since I am friends with Applejack. He is some sort of friend of the family if you will. I never even noticed him before that and as far as I recall I never did anything to him while I was the school’s evil queen of sorts. He seems to have kept a low profile if he never showed up on my radar to bully him.”

“So you fell in love with one of this world’s Applejack’s friends?” Cadance asked before she licked a dash of whipped cream off her spoon.

Accompanied by a heavy sigh, Sunset shook her head. “Not at all, I merely knew his name and face. But the last time I was on vacation in Equestria I met his equestrian counterpart.”

A huge grin crept onto Cadance’s face. “Love across dimensions?”

Twilight tilted her head in confusion and decided to interject. “Ok, Sunset, you kept his name to yourself all the time and only referred to him as, well, him. Now I’m really curious who it is.”

Sunset chuckled and winked. “Well, there was a certain mapmaker pony who you hired to give me a tour to the Castle of the Two Sisters when you had to attend this sudden princess stuff. Remember?”

Twilight’s jaw dropped. “You mean Scout, Scout Charger?”

With a firm nod Sunset explained. “Yep, Scout.” She took a deep breath. “We were at the castle, had some time at our hooves and just began talking. He told me about himself. We talked about my past and at some point we talked about his crush.”

“I’m confused. So it all started with the Scout from Equestria. But you told me a week ago that you slept with a boy, so I presume it was the Scout of this world. Which would mean that it wasn’t the Scout from Equestria and I don’t know if I should view them as one and the same or not and I get confused.” Twilight took a few deep breaths trying to calm her nerves and to comprehend the situation, with little success one might add. Finally, she looked at Sunset pleadingly. “What exactly did happen?”

Cadance however looked at Sunset dead serious and managed to start to be intimidating. She gestured for Sunset to go on and, with a steadying breath, she continued. “The equestrian version of Scout didn’t have a crush on me, we talked about another pony. But I liked him and thought he was really cute and I was pretty sure that he fancied me a little bit. However, I don’t think he would drop the mare he has fallen for, not matter what. So I guessed that this world’s version must be somewhat similar to him and I wanted to see what would come from that.”

It seemed that Cadance was now taking it all rather seriously and looked Sunset directly in the eyes. “So you approached this world’s version of him and became his friend?”

Sunset nodded. “At first I was just curious how the two differed. I got to know him better and we hung out a few times, nothing special really. I think I kind of fell for him a bit, but I never really found the right time to make a move.” She rolled her eyes and sighed. “Well, not until our school trip at least. At the last night I we met at a bar, had a few drinks and had a fun time. When we returned to our hotel … I had enough courage in me to finally try my luck, enough liquid courage that is.”

Cadance crossed her arms and gave Sunset an uncharacteristically neutral expression. “So you slept with him and after that something went wrong.” Sunset nodded and cast down her eyes. “What exactly did you do that made it all go downhill?” The uncharacteristically quiet princess of love asked.

Sunset gave Twilight a pleading look, she didn’t know why but she couldn’t tell Cadance that she lied and tried to trick Scout. She was the princess of love after all. Surely it wouldn’t sit right with her to hear stuff like that.

Twilight picked up her friend’s silent cry for help and cleared her throat. “This world’s society is a little different than ours. Having sex directly at the start of a relationship isn’t seen as normal or positive, on the contrary, it’s viewed as shameful and wrong. As far as I understand it, Sunset therefore tried to swindle her way out of it. Not the best course of action, but that’s not the point. Scout seemed to have picked up on it however and was understandably angry at Sunset.”

“That was when I first asked Twilight for help.” Sunset added with barely more than a whisper. “She told me to just be direct, apologize to him so we could be friends again and everything could be just like before. And when I tried it the next time I saw him, it seemed to work fine at first. But just when I offered him that we could forget it and go back to how it was before he freaked out. He suddenly was mad again. He asked me if this was a game to me, if I thought that I could just do what I wanted and then pretend nothing has happened. It was extremely confusing and very sudden.”

Cadance was watching Sunset over the remains of her strawberry sundae and frowned. “Did he say anything else?”

Sunset wanted to shake her head, when she remembered what Scout had said before he left. “He only said something about hurting a man by taking away what he holds dear and reminding him of it. It sounded like some random emo quote from the internet.”

Suddenly, a huge smiled appeared on Cadance’s face and all the weight Sunset had felt pressing her down just vanished. The feeling of being judged was gone in an instant and all that was left was an overwhelming feeling of safety.

Slowly, Cadance rose from her seat and went around the table. Her hand reached for Sunset’s shoulder and she suddenly found herself in a hug that was so warm and so gentle that even a mother’s loving embrace would pale in comparison.

Before Sunset could ask what was going on or even react in any way, a gentle whisper came to her ear. “I know you are terrified and that you think you messed everything up. But I need you to just calm down. We will fix this mess and I promise you everything will be fine.” Cadance’s voice was smooth and full of confidence. At this moment it was unquestionable to Sunset that she knew exactly what went wrong and how to make it all better.

With her eyes slightly watering, Sunset hugged Cadance back and mumbled. “I don’t know what it is about you princesses. You always manage to make a pony fear your judgement and then you are just so nice and all bad things go away.”

Cadance chuckled and hugged Sunset a little tighter. “That’s our job silly.”

A very long hug later, all three girls sat in front of new sundaes and let the cold sugary goodness calm their nerves.

Sunset had chosen something that was called a Lemon Lime Taste Sublime. It was a nice medium sundae with three scoops of lemon ice cream, whipped cream, lime sauce as well as small lime chunks and bits of white chocolate on top. Twilight was indulging herself in the bliss that is vanilla ice cream with hot raspberries, whipped cream and cookie crumbles. Cadance all the while enjoyed another strawberry sundae and hummed a happy tune.

When they had finally eaten their treats, Cadance looked at Sunset with a smile. “Okay, since we now all had our fair share of feel good food, are you ready to get serious?”

Twilight and Sunset looked at each other before they looked at Cadance and said in unison. “We are!”

With that Cadance leaned back and gave the two girls a gentle smile. “Ok, first let me tell you what I think happened in this boy’s head. I assume he found some proof or simply believed in his memory after the school trip, even though you tried to convince him otherwise Sunset. What happened from here is rather common for males of any species I’ve ever met.” She sighed and shook her head in disbelief. “Almost all of them are uncertain when it comes to relationships, to varying degrees yes, but still uncertain. They doubt their abilities and maybe their attractiveness when a female they fancy rejects them. What happened here is likely that Scout interpreted your attempt to cover up the truth as rejection and reacted by rejecting you in return. Twilight’s advice to speak to him and apologize was a good start, as you might have guessed by the partial success. You essentially made him open up to you by offering him hope. He hoped he was false when he thought you didn’t want him. Then you two dealt him a low blow by offering him to simply forget and move on. I’ll admit this is rather rare in Equestria because our social dynamics are quite different, but I’ve heard of a few reactions like this. When you offered him to start over, you may have intended to be friends and build up a ‘proper’ relationship from scratch. What he heard however was more along the lines of ‘It was a mistake, let’s never talk about it again and I regret it deeply’ or something similar. Anyway, you get the idea.”

Sunset cocked an eyebrow and scratched her head. “That doesn’t make any sense. I never said I regretted anything. In fact it…” She bit down on her tongue to stop herself from saying any more.

Cadance smiled knowingly. “Sunset, I think I have a pretty good idea of your opinion on the matter. Anyway, it doesn’t really matter what you said, more important is what he heard. What is important now is that you make a decision.”

Slightly horrified and taken aback, Sunset shook her head. “Waitwaitwaitwait! What do you mean I have to make a decision?”

“You simply have to choose what you want to achieve.” Cadance raised one hand and explained calmly. “I could help you make it up to him by helping you to say what you want to say in a way that he will understand. At the end of the day you’ll get yourself a colt … I mean boyfriend, sorry.” She raised her other hand and tilter her head. “On the other ho…hand we could also clear the whole thing up, explain to him what happened and why it happened and aim to make him forgive you. I doubt you will become a couple like this but after some time to let the emotional turmoil calm down you are likely to become friends again.”

Sunset looked at Cadance’s hands, both offering to her a possible future. All she had to do was to decide which one she wanted. Normally it would be easy, but what the princesses didn’t know was that this world’s Applejack was also involved. Sunset couldn’t just take Scout for herself, she also had to take care that the friendship between AJ and Scout got fixed. She looked Cadance in the eyes, heaved a heavy sigh and nodded. “Ok.”

Girls Talk

Sweet Apple Acres was located at the outskirts of Canterlot. Just close enough to the city to have shops, schools and other modern conveniences in driving distance, yet remote enough to enjoy the peace and quiet of ‘the good old days’ as the Apples would put it.

Many people didn’t know however that the famous orchard, with its generations old apple trees, was not the entirety of Sweet Apple Acres. On the outskirts lay great patches of land that were either unattended or have been kept in their original state intentionally. One of these locations was a huge pond surrounded by oaks, willows and more than half a dozen other trees, none of them apple trees.

Sunset and Applejack sat under one of the large willows and stared at the pond. Both waiting for the other to start the conversation they both knew would be difficult.

After a small eternity of silence Applejack reached for her hat, took it off and put it next to her in the grass. “Ok, we’re doin’ a mighty fine job in not talking to each other. Wanna keep it that way sugar cube?” She asked with a weary tone.

Sunset sighed. “Applejack, I understand that this stuff is hard to talk about in this world. Especially for a girl like you who grew up with all those traditions and rules I don’t understand.” She leaned back against the tree and looked upwards. “But you only hurt yourself if you keep quiet about it.”

Applejack tore out a hand full of grass and looked at it like it might tell her the answer. “It ain’t that easy Sunset. Granny Smith raised me to be a decent girl, ya know. She taught me not to lie. That only honest and hard work is good work. That family is s’pposed to holdin’ together an’ so on an’ so on. One of these mighty fine lessons was that it’s only proper to wait till marriage till ya do it with a boy.” She opened her hand as a particular strong breeze passed over them and the grass she held scattered in the wind.

Sunset closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she reopened them she looked at the farm girl with a smile. “Look, Granny Smith did a great job in raising you, Big Mac and Apple Bloom. You three are probably the best people I know.”

Applejack chuckled and shook her head. “Ah appreciate the intention but Ah think ya’ underrate our friends and ya’self.”

Sunset shrugged and continued. “I’ll admit Pinkie is funnier than you. Rarity is possibly one of the most selfless and generous people I know. And Fluttershy likely has never had even a single evil thought. But you three are a different kind of good. You are honest, dependable, you work hard and you never let your friends or your family down. And you too are generous, fun and kind.” Sunset looked around to make sure nobody else was there. “To be honest with you, in the bad old days I always tried to get some dirt on you Apples. It speaks volumes about your family that I never found anything to blackmail any of you.”

A strange mixture of appreciation and uncertainty formed on Applejacks face. “Thank ya kindly … Ah think.” She shook her head and looked at the pond once again. “Anyway, all that doesn’t matter because Ah feel like a piece o’ shit. Granny Smith taught me how Ah should behave and Ah threw ma’ dignity out ta’ window as soon as ma’ head got dizzy and ma’ crotch got wet.”

Sunset couldn’t help but roll her eyes at that. “Oh come on AJ, I was there. If I remember correctly it was my first time in a human body, not yours.” Applejack gave her friend a silent look full of shame.

Sunset immediately caught the implication. “No way! You can’t tell me that it was your first time. You seemed rather knowledgeable about the thing. Besides, I didn’t see you in pain or anything.” Sunset shook her head violently. “I can’t believe that!”

A soft chuckle came from Applejack as she gave Sunset a smirk. “Ya’ know sugar cube, it’s mighty different for all girls. To some it’s painful, to others it’s as if nothing happened. And that ‘me being knowledgeable’ part … let’s just say Ah read a whole lot o’ magazines on the matter.” The smirk on Applejack’s face vanished and got replaced by furious blush. “Besides, Ah only said it was ma’ first sex, not ta’ first time Ah had anythin’ inside ma’ … inside me.”

Sunset gave her friend a curious look and raised an eyebrow. “How did you lose your virginity then?” She asked inquisitively.

Applejack gulped audibly. “Ah might have been a bit … enthusiastic with the handle of ma’ hairbrush when Ah was thirteen.” The farm girl answered in a whisper of her own. “Was kind of an accident ya’ know.”

It took all of Sunset’s self-control not to burst out laughing when Applejack told her that. But even though she managed to not outright laugh at her friend, she still snickered for a good few minutes.

When Sunset finally calmed down again she looked at her friend with a big smile. “Sorry, that was just too funny. I don’t think I can ever again use a brush without breaking down laughing.” Sunset took a few deep breaths, cleared her throat and tried to get serious again. “Ok, all fun aside. I understand that it was an important night and all. But you can’t just pretend it never happened.”

Applejack rose from where she sat and walked towards the pond. “Ah know. The thing is Ah don’t know what to do.” She heaved a heavy sigh. “Ah can either lie to anybody Ah care ‘bout or Ah tell the truth. Which essentially means A’ll abandon what ma’ granny taught me and loose ma’ family’s trust. I’m on the horns of a mighty fine dilemma if ya ask me.”

Sunset also rose from her seat and walked up next to Applejack. “AJ, I’m pretty sure your family won’t kick you out or anything. Not because you slept with a boy you … really care about.” The last part of her sentence didn’t come out as easy as Sunset would have liked. Admitting that Applejack was essentially her rival when it came to the boy she had a crush on was harder than she thought.

It took a while before Applejack reacted, but finally she turned to Sunset and her eyes carried a plea for help far louder than her voice ever could. “What did Twilight say? What are we supposed to do?”

Sunset smiled, put an arm around Applejack’s shoulders and pointed right back at the blonde girl. “When it comes to your family we won’t lie to them, but we won’t go out of our way to tell them either. In regards to Scout honesty is the best policy.” She said with a firm nod. “First we corner him so he can’t flee, then we apologize and talk to him about why we did it.” Her smile became a little bit more fiendish. “And then we give him the saddest pair of puppy dog eyes we have and use our female charm to make him forgive us.”

Applejack chuckled. “Ya do realize that Ah’ am not known for ma’ charm and stuff.” She flexed her fingers and clenched her fist. “Though Ah’m sure Ah could beat ‘em up if he won’t forgive us.” This time both girls laughed.

Big McIntosh stood behind one of the oaks a few meters away from the pond. He knew it wasn’t proper for a guy to sneak after girls and listen in on what they had to talk about. But the expressions on both their faces when they declared they had important matters to discuss made very clear that his little sister had something bothering her.

He didn’t hear the whole conversation, but he heard enough. Sunset was of course right, he would never abandon AJ, and neither would Apple Bloom or Granny Smith. Sometimes Applejack was just too stubborn to see the things for how they truly were.

For now he was glad that there was no need for him to get involved. It was always a pain to help his sister out without her noticing. And since her pride wouldn’t let him help if she did notice it was always a pain to help her out.

Anyway, everything seemed to be under control and so he shoved his hands into his pockets and walked back to the house in silence.

Third Time is the Charm ... Right?

It was now almost five weeks since the trip to Las Pegasus and Applejack and Sunset Shimmer were determined that it was only a few hours left until they would clear up the mess they made.

Two days had passed since they had talked on Sweet Apple Acres. They had planned their approach and even memorized the parts of their speeches they deemed especially important. But what was absolutely paramount was that they had agreed on a few points.

Sunset looked Applejack in the eyes. “Firstly: We will hold nothing back! We have to talk about all we did, why we did it and how we feel about it.”

Applejack took a deep breath and nodded. “Agreed! Second of all: No cheatin! We won’t swindle our way out of this. It will be his decision if he forgives us.”

This time Sunset was the one to nod. “Honesty is best policy.”

Both girls looked away from each other, let their gaze search the cafeteria and focused on the boy that was the focal point of their plan. “Third Agreement: If he ever decides to go out with one of us, we won’t hold it against one another.” They said in unison.

Applejack turned towards Sunset and smiled. “Only thing left ta’ do is a blood ritual to seal the deal alrigh’.”

Sunset winked. “If you get me about four liters of virgin blood and black candles made from the bodies of the innocent I could try to get Lilith or Baal to make an appearance.”

Applejacks smile instantly vanished and her eyes grew wide. “Uhh … Sunset? Can ya’ you know … summon a daemon for real or somethin’?” She asked with a slightly trembling voice.

With a snort and a roll of her eyes Sunset leaned back. “Of course I can’t, this world doesn’t even have daemons that could be summoned. Besides, this whole blood and innocent thing is bullshit. A fine paste made from catkin, mandrake and clover dissolved in pure alcohol and then burned in the middle of a pentagram works way better. Of course you also need a few pounds of blessed silver that has been grounded to dust for the pentagram and the barrier. Otherwise it’s really difficult to keep the little sucker in check.”

At this point Applejack had become as white as if she had seen a ghost and her eyes wide as dinner plates. Sunset cleared her throat and scratched the back of her head. “Ok, I’ll admit, I tried to teach myself some dark magic back in Equestria. But I promise that it is impossible in this world to summon a daemon.”

Applejack reached for her glass, gulped down her water in one go and looked at Sunset as if she had never seen her before. “Girl, ya’ know how to give me a mighty fine scare. Sure as sugar Ah’m not going to ask any question ‘bout that stuff ever again.”

Sunset chuckled. “It’s nice to know how to get to you.” She winked. “You know, just in case.” Both girls chuckled.

After a few seconds Sunset stood up, took the remains of her lunch and prepared to leave. “Ok, remember, today it’s his turn to clean the blackboard and get out the trash. After approximately five minutes the school will be virtually clear of students. At that point we will meet on the front lawn and take the shortcut around the gym towards the dumpsters. There we can talk in private.” Applejack nodded her approval and the two parted ways.

Scout didn’t know what but something was fishy. For the last two days he felt like something was going on, but could never exactly point out what it was. In the last couple months some magical crisis could never be ruled out, but normally it wasn’t his turn to face something like that. He desperately hoped that all things magic would remain centered around Sunset Shimmer and her friends.

He had just emptied the trash bin when he heard somebody clear his throat. Curious enough he turned around and he couldn’t help but groan. “What do you guys want now?”

Sunset tried to calm herself with a few deep breaths, gave Applejack a sideways glance and decided to start. “We just want to talk, no games or schemes, just you and us talking … about Las Pegasus.” She stammered slightly blushing.

Scout reached for the trash bin and gave Sunset a somewhat exhausted look. “Can’t you guys just leave me alone? I’m sure I have a somewhat accurate recollection of what happened. If you want to pretend nothing happened, fine, see what I care about your bullshit. Just go your ways and leave me be.”

As Scout attempted to leave Applejack quickly cut him off, hands folded behind her back and her Stetson pulled deep into her face. “Look sugar cube. Just give us a minute or two so we can get some explainin done. Would ya?” She looked up and into Scout’s eyes, her own emerald-green eyes darting around, desperately searching for something to focus on. “Ah promise it’ll be worth ya’ time.” Her voice and body language were thick with remorse and regret.

He wanted to walk away. Scout was determined to just walk away. Just let time do its thing and forget all of this. But despite his best effort, a small part of his mind desperately clung to whatever hope was still there. His shoulders dropped and he put the trash bin down. “Ok, I’ll listen. … What could possibly go wrong?” He said with a defeated sigh.

Applejack was the first to talk, her voice and behavior more akin to her friend Fluttershy than her usual self. “Ok, first things first, we’re sorry for wha’ we did. Ah sorta panicked at the next morning. Ma’ family isn’t that big on this whole sex ‘afore marriage thing. So Ah asked Sunset if’n she could, ya know, help me out.”

Sunset took over, her voice a bit calmer than Applejack’s. “I came up with tricking you into thinking it was a dream. I’ll admit it was sort of a long shot, but it was all we could pull of in the nick of time.”

Scout gave her a dry chuckle. “It would have worked actually. Though I still had some lipstick on my cheek and later found the remainders of the scratches you gave me.” He looked at Sunset. “It all sort of came back after that.”

Sunset blushed slightly, though a small part of her was proud that her plan had almost worked. Before she could indulge in the knowledge that her manipulative skills were still top notch however she remembered that there was still some way to go. She cleared her throat and continued. “Anyway, the important thing that we want to tell you that we are sorry for this stupid plot.”

Scout nodded and attempted to leave once again. “Ok I get it, you are sorry.” He sighed. “Look, I think I even somewhat understand why you felt you needed to pull this shit off. However, I still need some time to think it over. Give me a week or two and then I’ll know what I really think about this.” As he was about to pass by Sunset, she placed a hand on his chest and looked at him with determination.

The first step of Cadance’s plan had worked almost perfectly. Applejack and Sunset had managed to get the boy to listen and he would at least try to forgive them. “There is more that we need to tell you.” Sunset said.

Applejack stood next to Sunset and took off her hat. A habit she only displayed when she was trying to handle rather extreme emotions. “Look Scout, we’re mighty sorry for wha’ we did the mornin after, not for the night itself.” The blonde farm girl gulped. “Ah’ll admit, Ah might’ve not been in on this if Ah was sober, but it was a great night and I don’t mind in the slightest that it was you. So, yeah, if ya’ want to I would be willing to give us a proper try. You know, like datin or somethin.”

Scout’s eyes went wide and his jaw dropped. A small part of his mind had dared to hope this whole mess might clear up somehow. Granted he didn’t exactly know how it could, but this was beyond anything he would have believed possible.

Before he regained his wits however, Sunset turned his head towards her and smiled at him. “I too want to say that I’m really sorry for what I did. But I had a wonderful night with a wonderful boy and I’d feel honored if you would agree to go out with me.”

Scout’s mind went blank.

Two minutes later Applejack and Sunset still waited for the boy to say something. All the while he just stood there eyes wide and unfocussed and his jaw almost down on the floor.

Finally Scout shook his head and stumbled backwards. “You both are…?” before he could finish his question the girls nodded, both giving him gentle smiles.

What had started out in a rather tense atmosphere of distrust had now shifted. The anger had dissipated like mist in the sun. What could very well have been another attack on his mental health had turned into a completely unexpected confession … two confessions actually. It felt almost as unreal as two of the hottest girls of CHS doing it with a boy in a hotel room in Las Pegasus.

Scout grabbed the trash bin, turned it upside down and plopped down onto it. His eyes darted around like he was about to panic and his breath went as fast as if he had just finished a marathon. “I … I don’t really know what to say.” He finally stammered.

Both girls put a hand on his shoulders. “We won’t force you to do anything. We just wanted to let you know that this wasn’t just a fling to us and that we really care about you.” Sunset said with a calm voice.

“We agreed to jus’ tell ya’ ‘bout it and let ya’ decide on ya’ own what’s best. If ya’ think it’s best to leave it at that and be friends again that’s fine with us. If ya’ wanna date one of us we’re also fine with that.” Applejack added and her voice came down to a whisper. “Only thing ya’ can’t have is both o’ us at the same time. Ah’d not be willin to share you anymore, ya’ hear?”

Sunset chuckled slightly and nodded. “I agree with AJ on the last part.” Her voice took on a little more of a sultry tone. “I know sharing is caring and all, but I wouldn’t want to share you anymore.”

Scout looked at the girls in front of him. “I think I need some time to think.” He squeaked.

Applejack and Sunset nodded and left. After they had rounded the corner of the building and were sure Scout was out of earshot they looked at each other, chuckled and bumped their fists. “That went a whole lot better than Ah had hoped.”

Sunset winked at her friend. “Well, what did you expect? I asked the Princess of Love for help. In Equestria you have to work for a title like that.”

With the situation no longer in their hands, the girls left CHS for the day and would then have to wait for what the next days would bring.

Boys don't Talk

To many people Big Macintosh was a silent and simple minded farmer. In fact even his family didn’t know the full extent of what was going on behind his big red forehead.

Over the next three weeks after he had overheard Applejack and Sunset Shimmer talking, he spent most of his free time listening. At first he listened to AJ making phone calls to Sunset and talking about what they were planning to do. After one week he listened to rumors about Sunset and Applejack being up to something. In the second week he listened to his sister’s impatient mumblings about Scout Charger and boys in general. In the third week he listened to Sunset Shimmer and Applejack talking once again, this time both visibly insecure and even more impatient.

Mac knew very well what this all was about. So, almost four weeks after he had listened in on the girls’ conversation at the pond he finally decided to act. He also knew that he had to keep a low profile so his sister wouldn’t realize he was involved.

It was Friday. Applejack had taken Apple Bloom home while Big Mac pretended to have business with Vice-principal Luna in regards to the school’s supply with fresh apple-based products. Of course he had no business to sort out and there was nothing to discuss about the contract between Sweet Apple Acres and Canterlot High. Instead Mac headed directly for the gym.

In the corner of the gym was a small section dedicated to martial arts, established by Vice-principal Luna. It was a not really well-kept secret that she had a soft spot for things like these.

Scout was there, slowly working over a punching bag. Every few seconds, three to five resounding thumps filled the room as his fists smashed against the target. In-between the individual series of punches powerful kicks slammed against the bag, the sound not unlike that of a massive whip.

Mac slowly walked in and came to a halt next to Scout. The smaller boy looked up to the big red one and paused. “Mac?” He took a few deep breaths to steady his pulse. “What are you doing here?”

Instead of a verbal answer Big Mac smiled and lifted two fingerless gloves. Scout knew these very well. Those were special gloves, made for a fighting style that included grappling as well as punching. On Mac’s shins were two padded guards made to lessen the effects of heavy kicks, for the user as well as the target.

Scout looked from the gloves to the other boy and back. “You haven’t been here for almost half a year.” He stepped back from the punching bag, twisted his neck until two resounding cracks could be heard. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

A deep chuckle escaped Mac’s throat and he nodded slowly. “Eeeyup”

It took the two boys not even five minutes until they had built an improvised ring from some of the mats that were lying around. After a scrutinizing gaze both of them nodded in unison. They walked into the middle of the ring and looked at each other.

Macintosh slowly raised his fists, took a little broader stance and held his position. Scout all the while held his hands open, the left arm outstretched while the right one covered his head. It felt like a few years ago, when they had regular sparring matches. Scout and Mac were the only heavy weight fighters in Luna’s martial arts course and yet they both were vastly different.

Scout was half a head smaller than Mac, but had broader shoulders and an overall sturdier build. He was the tenacious kind of fighter. He could take heavy hits and still get back up. He often took a few hits on purpose, just to get a heavy punch or kick in himself. Of course this kind of strategy largely depended on the fact that the hits he dealt were more effective than those he received. But if Scout did hit he normally made it count. Though his limited reach and the fact that he wasn’t all that fast sometimes made it quite complicated to land a decisive blow.

Big Mac on the other hand was the perfect image of a heavy weight boxer. He was tall, had long arms and a biceps that put the upper legs of other people to shame. He was also rather fast for a guy of his weight. He preferred to destroy his targets at longer range, were he could hit them but they could not hit back. Also, he was easily able to land high kicks to the heads of most people. One such kick was easily enough to send even the toughest of opponents straight into dreamland.

But what these two originally learned from their Vice-principal wasn’t mere kick-boxing. Luna had taught them her very own style, a combination from various different martial arts. Aside from various kicks and punches they had learned a wide variety of throws, grapples, joint locks and chokes. Over the past few years, Luna had turned both boys into well rounded and very adaptable fighters. Still, Luna herself could kick both their asses simultaneously without breaking a sweat.

They stood across from each other in the middle of their impromptu ring and Scout looked at Macintosh. “Limited or full contact?” He asked without taking his eyes of Mac, a slight grin in his lips. The big red farm boy shook his head and smiled. He clenched his fists tight, a few small cracks resounding from his fingers. Scout understood and nodded. “You asked for it big guy.”

The two focused on each other, Mac still wearing his slight smile, while Scout looked at him with an ice cold glare. Mac slowly made a step forward, shortening the distance and testing how his opponent would react. Scout didn’t flinch, his eyes firmly on Big Mac, waiting for his chance.

With a second step, this one way quicker than the first, Mac closed the distance between him and Scout. Without any warning he suddenly dropped his arms and twisted his shoulders. Mac used his arms and upper body to gain as much momentum as he could, he then lifted his right leg, turned on his left foot and delivered a devastating high kick. Scout’s body recognized the attack before his mind did and he reflexively ducked. Mac’s leg passed over Scout’s head, but before he could regain his footing and deliver a counter, Mac had completed his kick and backed off.

Scout nodded towards his friend and smiled. “Oh boy, that would have blown my head clean off. You still got it in you.” He took his hands back up and went back to his initial position.

This time it was Scout who attacked. He slowly closed in on Big Mac, his feet constantly sliding across the ground. When they were but two meters apart he suddenly jerked forward, closing the remaining distance rapidly. Macintosh took the bait and threw as heavy uppercut. Scout had hoped for this and shoved Mac’s punch aside before with his left arm before it could hit home. At the same time he stomped his right foot, twisted his body and slammed his punch directly into Mac’s side.

To Scout’s more than slight surprise his hit didn’t seem to have any effect. Mac grunted slightly, drew back his left and delivered the good news fist first to Scout’s jaw. He hit the ground with a dull thud merely half a second later.

Big Mac backed up a few steps while Scout rolled backwards, got back up to his feet and rubbed his jaw. “Holy shit Mac, nice shot.” He smiled as he got back into position. “Now that we have exchanged a few pleasantries let’s be honest. You’re here for a reason?”

Mac slowly walked closer and started to throw a few small jabs towards his friend. “Eeeyup” He grunted before he threw a particularly powerful right punch that forced Scout to jump back and get some distance.

Scout snorted and rolled his eyes when he tried to go around Big Mac to avoid the sledgehammer that was his right. “Let me guess…” He grunted as he dodged a light left punch from Mac. “It’s about AJ, right?” With a small jump Scout came up to Big Mac’s height and delivered a savage hit directly to the red boy’s head.

Mac stumbled a few steps back but regained his footing before Scout could capitalize on his hit. “Eeeyup” sounded Mac’s voice from behind his defense.

While the two boys were a few steps apart Scout shook his head and sighed. “Did she and Sunset talk to you about what happened?”

Mac used the slight moment of abstraction to get close. Scout instinctively raised his hand to protect his head. But instead of a heavy blow to the head, Big Mac aimed lower. He went down to a knee and threw a straight right punch directly into Scout’s solar plexus. While Scout tumbled back a few steps, Mac rose up and shook his head. “Nnope”

Scout breathed heavily, clutching his stomach with both arms. “Shit … that one hurt.” He slowly stood straight and blinked away the pain. “I assume you know what’s going on despite nobody telling you?” His gaze rested on his friend the entire time to avoid another surprise hit.

Big Mac slowly nodded as he raised his fists. “Eeeyup”

Another deep breath got rid of the worst pain while Scout took up his stance once again. “So? What are you planning to do? Beat me up for what Applejack and I did?” Before his word’s had faded Scout shot forward and threw another punch against Mac’s block.

Mac grunted slightly as he felt the hit. “Nnope” He returned the favor immediately with a quick punch towards Scout’s ribs.

Scout knew that he would take some heavy hits if he tried to back away from Mac at this moment and therefore opted for the only other option. He grabbed one of Mac’s wrists and immediately reached around his neck. “Then I don’t understand what you hope to achieve.” With a sudden and rather hefty pull Scout tried to unbalance Mac.

Big McIntosh however had already foreseen this when Scout grabbed his wrist and leaned back. Like this Scout simply couldn’t muster enough force to throw him down, instead Macintosh reached around Scout’s waist, lifted him up and slammed him sideways to the ground.

Both boys panted heavily, the effects of their little bout showing clearly on their faces and bodies. Mac rose first, took a few heavy breaths and then offered his hand to Scout, helping him up.

Thankfully taking the offered hand Scout pulled himself up. He stretched, cracked his neck and nodded towards Mac. “You still got it in you.” His smile faltered lightly. “Still, I don’t know what you want here.”

Big Mac sighed. “AJ n Sunset wait that ya talk to ‘em.”

Scout cursed under his breath and looked at his big friend. “It’s not that easy. They essentially wait for me to make a decision. I have to decide if I want to stay friends with them and if I want to date one of the two.”

Mac nodded, smiling his usual gentle smile. “Eeeyup”

“I mean I can’t just decide that all this shit we went through is null and void.” Scout looked into Big Mac’s eyes for a moment before he snorted. “Ok, when you think about it we are kind of even. I didn’t feel good about this and they didn’t either. But can I really just go ‘it’s all sunshine and rainbows now, let’s kiss and make up’?” Scout started to pace and gesture wildly.

All the while Mac’s smile widened almost unnoticeably. “Eeeyup”

Scout pointed at the big red farm boy. “Sure, to you it seems easy. You don’t have to decide between two gorgeous girls.”

“Nnope” Big Mac chuckled.

“Argh, I simply don’t know what’s the right thing to do. Even if we all ‘kiss and make up’ … ok not really kissing but you catch my meaning. Anyway, if we just make up then I still would have to decide if I want to date Sunset or Applejack or neither of the two.” Scout’s voice was almost doubling over and he seemed to talk himself into a panic attack.

Big Mac put a hand on his friends shoulder and made him stop in his tracks. “Would any of ‘em make for a bad girlfrien’?”

Scout looked confused and didn’t even have to think about that for a second. “Are you shitting me? Or course not! I mean, you know AJ she can be rather bossy and somewhat tomboyish. But she is caring, especially to those close to her. She’s always honest, works hard and has an incredibly strong will. Though, she can be a bit stubborn at times. And then there are the facts that she is good with her hands, a great cook and …” Scout cleared his throat and lowered his voice just a bit. “… let’s be honest here, she is definitely one of the hottest girls CHS has. Her emerald eyes and that golden hair are gorgeous, though I’d prefer it if she’d let it down more often.” Macintosh chuckled and gestured his friend to continue. “But Sunset is definitely number one at CHS when it comes to looks. If you have ever seen Sunset at … well, sunset you’d knew what I mean. Her golden and red locks look almost as if they caught fire. Even more so when a slight wind is blowing, it’s breath taking. And the rest of her … let’s just say her hair isn’t even the most beautiful on her. She’s also intelligent, determined and has a fiery temper. Ok, she can be somewhat bossy too. And from time to time she gets a bit overconfident if not to say arrogant. But she is brilliant, sexy and has her heart in the right place.”

After Scout had finished his rant he looked at Mac. When his friend didn’t say anything right away he reviewed the conversation and finally caught what Mac made him do. “You’re kind of an evil genius you know that?” Scout said scrunching his face as he gave Mac an irritated look. After a few seconds his expression morphed into a smile and he shook his head.

Mac slapped Scout on the back and nodded. “Since ya did realize’ tha’ there is no wrong decision in this all. Did ya make one?”

Scout laughed and gave his friend a fist bump. “Not yet, but it feels much easier now.”

What Remains of a Dream after you Wake Up

It was Saturday morning. The day after Big Mac had talked, and to a certain degree beat, some sense into Scout. After he and Macintosh had parted ways Scout had pondered for the rest of the day which girl he’d like to choose. Both of them said they would like to give dating him a shot and he definitely had a soft spot for both of them. But he also knew that if he’d choose one of the girls, there would be no chance he’d ever try and date the other. So taking the chance with either Sunset Shimmer or Applejack meant that any chance with the other was gone.

Of course Mac had been right, there was no false decision to make here, but there was also no absolute right one either. In the end, Scout didn’t decide that evening. He just showered, watched some movies and went to bed early.

However, the next morning his subconsciousness made the decision for him. He walked into the kitchen, made himself some toast and scrambled eggs and sat down at the table. When he looked across the table, an image seemed to flash before his eyes. There was a girl sitting right across from him, smiling while she drank her coffee. His mind was still kind of sluggish and he didn’t realize that he smiled back at her. “Would be great to wake up to that smile each and every day.” He thought to himself.

When he took the next bite from his eggs his eyes widened in realization. For about five minutes he sat there, almost frozen solid. Another fifteen minutes later he was showered, dressed and ready to visit her.

Scout stood in front of the door, taking deep breaths to prepare himself for what lay ahead. “Come on, it’s not that she’ll turn you down or anything. She already told you she essentially wants to date you and you … also had sex before.” He told himself to calm his nerves.

In his right hand was a single rose. Not because he might have needed it, but his mother and sister had always told him how much they liked to get flowers from a boy and so he thought it would be a nice gesture. At least it would be if she actually liked roses, a detail he just then realized he didn’t know.

With courage born from desperation Scout brought his hand up to the door and knocked.

The world seemed to fall dead silent as footsteps could be heard from behind the door. Time slowed to a crawl and the moments seemed to drag on indefinitely. Was this really the right thing to do? Was this the right time? Was she the right girl and was he the right guy? Questions and uncertainties burned like newborn stars in Scout’s mind and what should have been mere seconds felt like an eternity to him.

A key turned inside a lock and a latch was showed to the side. “I could still run. She hasn’t seen me yet. I can still get out of this.” Uncertainties grew into fears and Scout’s brain rapidly declined into a state of pure and utter panic.

But what made him want to run also held him in place. His rapidly panicking mind froze him in place. Even though his head screamed for an escape, his legs wouldn’t budge an inch.

The door opened and there she was. At first her expression was flustered. Who would visit so early on a Saturday morning? When she saw Scout though whatever she wanted to say died in her throat and her mouth fell open.

Scout’s mind was blank. Words and thoughts had turned into a concept utterly alien to him. There were only emotions and a purpose. He slowly raised his arm and offered her the rose he brought.

She looked at the rose. Then to his face and back to the rose. Her eyes suddenly began to shine with a mixture of happiness and doubt. She knew what this was about. It was then and there that the smile Scout had imagined this morning at his kitchen table became reality. It was the most wonderful thing he had ever seen. Her smile was so bright that it felt like an angel descended from the heavens, just for him.

Right then and there all the stupid, sappy love songs Scout had ever heard suddenly made sense.

She put her hand to his and pushed it aside. As much as she loved to see that single rose, it was slightly in the way right now. Moments later she stepped forward, wrapped her arms around Scout’s neck and pulled him into a gentle kiss. She met no resistance. Scout wrapped one arm around her waist, the other around her shoulders and pulled her closer.

When they finally broke the kiss Scout looked into his new girlfriend’s eyes. She was beautiful, probably the most beautiful girl in the world. He touched the rose he had brought to her nose, smiled and whispered. “Right decision.”