The Wrong Stuff

Checkmate looked around the sky. It was empty, save for Scootaloo, himself and a few clouds below them. They flew along, searching the ground for their target. Check recognized this area. Scoots did too, he could tell by the look on her face. They were only a few minutes of flying away from the border between Equestria and Pegasopolis. If that cart got across the border the chances of them seeing it again would become next to none.

“C’mon Check, we gotta find it,” Scoots said. There was an urgency in her voice that he rarely heard. They both knew how important that simple cart was.

As they approached the border they saw a faint plume of dust on the ground. It was hardly a minute ahead of them, but it might as well have been an hour. It was on the other side of the border. It had gotten away.

The two armor clad pegasi slowed to a stop at the border. Check looked over to Scootaloo and tried to read her reaction. It wasn’t hard. She was, to put it bluntly, pissed; her anger was evident on her face. He slowly flew the few feet over to her and hugged her, causing a faint ‘clank’ from their armor. He was trying to comfort her and prevent her from doing something they’d both regret, they both knew that if she went after the wagon then he would as well.

“Hey, it’ll be fine. We’ll get the next one,” he said. She sighed and lightly hugged him back.

“I know we will,” she said as she gave him a weak smile, “Do you think we cou-“

“No,” He cut her off, “you know what Rainbow Dash said about crossing the border. We don’t want to cause an international affair.” Rainbow Dash had specifically told them not to cross the border. Chances were slim that it would cause a problem, but with the current turmoil shared by both countries they weren’t taking any chances.

It had been ten years since the fall of the Solar Empire and the rise of both the Lunar Republic and Pegasopolis. In those ten years the nations grew and prospered. About half of Pegasopolis actually extended over Equestria in the form of cloud cities. The actual land controlled by Pegasopolis was miniscule compared to the country as a whole. If it was possible, Rainbow Dash would have preferred having their young country reside wholly in the clouds. For the first few months that worked, as they simply traded and bought food from the farmers of the land below them. Eventually, as the population of Pegasopolis grew, the farmers couldn’t produce enough for the nation, so Princess Luna, she officially dropped the title of “Princess” upon the creation of the Lunar Republic but everyone still addresses and thinks of her as such, gave the new nation a large enough piece of land for farming.

As more and more pegasi migrated to Pegasopolis, a few earth ponies and unicorns decided to try their luck in the budding nation state as well. In time they formed towns and a few cities of their own. In a matter of years Pegasopolis went from a group of pegasi in the clouds to a relatively large and prosperous nation. But the seeds of hate sewn by the late Princess Celestia still held root in some hearts and minds. At one point a group of mostly earth ponies, a fair number of witch were soldiers for the Solar Empire, attempted to boycott Pegasopolis by refusing to buy anything made there, protesting outside the capitol of Equestria in Canterlot and even going so far as to try and block the roads into and out of Pegasopolis. They apparently had forgotten that pegasi have wings, so you can imagine how well that went.

In Equestria shops owned by pegasi were boycotted, some had mobs gather outside them, barring the entrance to other ponies. There were even a few reports of broken windows and the occasional looting. The Lunar Republic’s police forces were doing their best to stop this, but the cases were to few and far between to truly stop them.

Check lightly pushed her chin up so she was looking him in the eye.

“We’ll get ‘em eventually Scoots,” he said. She nodded and a bit of the fire left her eyes.

“I know we will,” She started, “It just gets so frustrating, you know?”

“Yeah, I know. C’mon, let’s head back.” With that he gently turned her away from the border and back towards the capitol.

~*~*~

Five years after the Discord incident three pegasi moved to Ponyville. The father and mother were both to be a part of the weather patrol. Their son was to just do as all colts his age do.

It was the first day of school. Checkmate stood in the shadow of a tree across from the schoolhouse and watched all the fillies and colts playing. From what he could tell they all had a distinctive mark on their flank, the cutie-mark that he distinctly lacked.

‘Great’ he thought, ‘First day and I’m the only blank fla-‘

“Hi there,” Came a voice from behind him. He nearly jumped into the tree, if he was better at flying he might have. Instead, he ended up hovering a few inches off the ground as he turned and faced the three fillies behind him. There was a white unicorn with a curly pink and purple mane and tail, a yellow earth pony with a red mane and tail and an orange Pegasus with short purple mane and tail. They were looking at him with a smile on each of their faces; it took him a second to realize why. They didn’t have their cutie-marks either.

“Jeepers, he’s more jumpy than Fluttershy on Nightmare Night,” The earth pony exclaimed with a slight southern drawl.

“I’ll say,” the unicorn said, giggling a little.

“So what’s your name kid?” asked the pegasus.

“U-uh, C-Checkmate," he told them as he planted his hooves back on the ground.

The trio eyed him suspiciously. They looked him up and down, from his black mane to his dark blue legs, over his faded leather saddlebags and blank flank.

“Well, looks like you’re in the same predicament we are, uh, Checkmate,” the earth pony drawled. Check raised an eyebrow.

“I think you’re getting a little ahead of yourself Applebloom, we haven’t even introduced ourselves,” said the unicorn.

“Oh, right. Well, I’m Applebloom, this here’s Sweetie Belle,” she waved a hoof at the unicorn, “And that’s Scootaloo.”

“H-hi,” Check stuttered.

“You’re new here ain’t ya?” Applebloom asked.

“W-well, um, yeah,” He managed.

“C’mon, we’ll give you the grand tour!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed.

“O-okay,” he said, though his attention wasn’t on Sweetie Belle or Applebloom. He was focusing on the pegasus, Scootaloo. She was staring off to the side, trying not to look at him. There was just something about her that was. . .Different, in a good way. He would have said something, but he was far too shy, and besides, he just met her. Little did he know that she was feeling something similar to him.

“Well, c’mon then!” Applebloom said. He turned to see that her and Sweetie Belle were already walking off, heading towards the playground. He quickly trotted after them.

She waited a few seconds to make sure he was gone. As his hoof beats diminished she turned and watched him trot away. Something about him made her feel odd. Like there were butterflies in her stomach. She didn’t like that feeling. She made a mental note to ask Rainbow Dash or Fluttershy about it later. Maybe she would even ask Twilight. She shook her head to clear it and galloped after her friends and this newcomer.

Over the next few months Checkmate and the Cutie Mark Crusaders became great friends. He became an official Crusader. But the feelings both himself and Scootaloo had when they first met never went away. They diminished with time, but they were still there. Those feelings would eventually see the light of day.

~*~*~

Almost a year after Check’s arrival the Cutie Mark Crusaders were out trying to get their marks yet again. Check and Scootaloo were out in the orchards of Sweet Apple Acres, on their way to the club house. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom were already there and hard at work trying to think of something to do.

They trudged along in silence, appearing to be lost in their own thoughts. Check was looking at the multi-colored leaves underhoof when he felt something slip around his wing and against his side while something warm pressed against his wing. He looked up and back to see it was Scootaloo’s wing. He blinked to make sure what he was seeing was real before he looked over at her to see her face was a bright red, just as he could feel his own becoming.

He opened his mouth to say something, but she leaned in and kissed him softly before he could make a sound. He felt the blood rush to his face as he kissed her back. They stood there a moment after breaking the kiss, the whole time spent lost in each other’s eyes.

Only after a sudden gust of wind sent a chill through Scootaloo did they continue on to the clubhouse. They trotted off to make up the lost, but far from wasted, time. Check's wing was around her shoulders and Scootaloo’s head was nuzzled into his neck. When they reached the edge of the clearing where the club house sat did they separate, but not by far.