“Oh come on, Fluttershy, you’re not still upset, are you?”

Fluttershy curtly turned her head away from Discord. Even if she was too polite to say it, the disappointment and frustration on her face was clear.

“I already said I was sorry, what more am I supposed to do?” Discord protested.

Fluttershy grinded her teeth behind closed lips before feeling a hoof lightly grazing her back. “Come on, Shy, you can’t be upset at just him…”

Fluttershy exhaled most of her stress out. “I know, Tree Hugger…but I was really looking forward to all of us getting in together!”

“Yeah, it’s a major bummer, but it’s not entirely Discord’s fault, ya know…”

Fluttershy looked back to Discord, seeing the genuine guilt on his face. “You’re right…I’m sorry, Discord.”

Discord’s mood immediately perked up, picking the mare up to hug her tight. “Honestly, I don’t know why you’re getting so worked up over this. Or why you’re getting so mad at me. It’s not like this is the last one ever, and it was clearly mutual.”

Fluttershy’s face turned stern once more. “Because this was Tree Hugger’s first year, and I expect better out of you!”

“In my defense, you shouldn’t have left me unattended for long!”

“I was gone for twenty minutes!”

“Well, she still got a once-in-a-lifetime No Clop November experience that nopony else will get. Surely that counts for something, right?”

Tree Hugger couldn’t help but chuckle. “It was pretty magical…”

“And look, after all this, our relationship is better than ever!” Discord pulled Tree Hugger into his embrace, squeezing them both. “Didn’t you want us to get along better?”

“You could’ve at least saved some of those brownies for me…”

“Heh, I think this is the first month where both of us are out,” Spike chuckled, playfully sprawling on the bedsheets over Twilight’s legs.

“And surprisingly, it wasn’t by each other,” Twilight smiled, pushing Spike onto his back as she continued with her book.

Spike crawled back up to her, pushing the book down so that they could touch foreheads. “Guess that means we both have this Friday free, huh?”

Twilight playfully rolled her eyes and snickered. “Well, we’re technically free right now, aren’t we?”

“Not until you close that book.”

Even with Spike’s face filling up most of her vision, Twilight darted back to the open pages. She didn’t want to turn Spike down, of course, but she was in the middle of a paragraph! And there were just two more pages until the next chapter!

Twilight could feel the hot air from Spike snorting with amusement with how long it took for her to make what should have been an easy decision.

Just as Twilight’s started to move the book, there was a rather loud and aggressive set of knocks at the door.

The two looked at each other with a disappointed sigh as they rolled out of bed and opened the door to see why their visitor had an urgent need to see them.

“...Ember?”

The dragon awkwardly waved. “Hey Spike. And…Twiiiiiiliiiiiiight?”

A simple nod from the princess made her pump her fist with this tiny victory.

“What brings you all the way over here?” Twilight asked.

“Well, I wanted to apologize to Spike. For, y’know…” She tentatively pressed her fingers together.

Spike tried to wave off Ember’s concerns. “Ahh, don’t worry about it, it’s fine.”

“But…I still meant all those things I said. About how much you mean to me.” Ember was visibly breathing heavily in discomfort, but still continued. “And I wish I could’ve shown you that in a way that…well…didn’t ruin both ours and Smolder’s chances.”

“Wow, what letters from Twilight have you been reading recently?”

Twilight’s eyes lit up with excitement as she pushed Spike aside. “Well, we’d be more than happy to teach you! There’s lots of ways you can express your gratitude, Ember!”

“Though if it’s too hard, then we can always try things out your way,” Spike winked. “After all, I’m sure you also wanna tell Twilight how you feel, right?”

Kerfuffle looked up at Tempest and Celaeno, smiling to herself as she admired the work that the two were still proudly wearing on their bodies.

“Ya know, out of the three of us, I didn’t expect to be the one that made it all the way!” She giggled.

“You sure you don’t wanna join us?” Celaeno teased. “It can be just us for a whole daaaay...”

Tempest let out a short chuckle with a faint smile. “It’s not too late…”

“Nice try girls, but I intend to enjoy the spoils of my victory, thank you very much!”

“Well, you certainly deserve it!” Tempest said. “It’s gonna be great, you’ll see.”

“I just wish we could be there with ya,” Celaeno said with a mirthless chuckle.

“Maybe if you weren’t so greedy…”

“And maybe if you weren’t so sensitive…” Celaeno fired right back, swishing her tail feathers underneath Tempest’s belly, forcing an immediate blush and silly grin on the unicorn’s face.

Kerfuffle stifled a giggle of her own. “Well, if it helps, Tempest, I think it’s kinda cute!”

Tempest’s muzzle scrunched up as she turned her head away and growled.

Kerfuffle walked up to Tempest, nuzzling herself underneath her chin. “Aww, don’t be all grumpy! I like seeing this side of you! Makes you less scary, ya know?”

“Scary, huh?”

“Well, yeah. At the start of the month, I barely knew anyone. And look! Now I’m besties with the two of you!”

Celaeno looked down at her leg. “And thanks to you, we all have proof of that.”

“And I’m sure everyone at the orgy is gonna know.”

“Oh, I know it won’t be nearly as fun without you two, but I’ll try to have fun! Just as long as you two don’t miss me too much!”

“Don’t worry,” Celaeno nudged Tempest’s side. “I’ll be sure to give her some ‘stress relief’ while you’re gone.”

Gallus angrily focused his glare straight ahead of him, yet he could still feel the grins of all his friends barely keeping their laughter inside. They were hardly subtle about it, he could hear the snickering from all sides, and they were hardly disguising their smiles.

“...Just get it over with.”

Sandbar and Ocellus were the first to start giggling, followed by Yona’s loud guffaws, and finally, a set of snickering from the perpetrators themselves, Silverstream and Smolder.

Gallus let out a slow, agitated exhale as he waited out the laughter. “You done?”

As most of their laughter died down, Sandbar was the only one still pounding the table. “Waitwaitholdon!” He wheezed, holding out his hoof as he went facedown. “HAHAAAAAAAAA!”

Gallus impatiently drummed his fingers against the table as Sandbar was left in near-silent hysterics, his body trembling with constant breathy laughs. Every time it seemed like the laughter was done, he found another wind and the laughter started all over.

“I get it, dude!” Gallus snarled.

“Alright, alright!” Sandbar picked his head up, still wheezing out a few laughs. “I’m sorry!” he said with a clear insincerity behind his apology.

“Whatever,” Gallus rolled his eyes. “I hope you and Silverstream have a great time…”

Smolder leaned back, throwing her feet up on the table. “Well, it wouldn’t have been the same without Ocellus anyway…”

“And I wouldn’t have liked it nearly as much without Tempest,” Gallus begrudgingly admitted.

“Yeah I know, that’s why we stepped on ya.”

Silverstream leaned forward, “Oooh, I wonder what I should do first? Or who I should do first? There’s Professor Fluttershy, Professor Dash, Professor Dash’s mom, Kerfuffle-”

“Waitwaitwait,” Ocellus interrupted. “You’re interested in Professor Dash’s MOM?”

“Mmhm! Turns out she’s super cool too!” Silverstream said matter-of-factly.

“Yona wish she not lose so early!” Yona pouted. “Yona letting new buffalo friend down.”

Sandbar lovingly patted Yona’s hoof. “Don’t worry, Yona. I’ll make sure she’s happy on your behalf.”

“Before or after Celestia?” Yona teased.

Little Strongheart ran through the Appleloosan orchard, going at a full sprint before skidding to a stop once she saw the two stallions she was looking for underneath the shade. “I’m not interrupting anything, am I, lovebirds?”

Braeburn sat down against the trunk of one of the apple trees, with Feather Bangs laid across his lap.

“Oh! Hey sweetheart!” Braeburn waved, his other hoof running through the other stallion’s mane.

“Did you, uh, need something?” Feather Bangs asked.

Strongheart walked up to the two, amusedly shaking her head. “Just wanted to make sure you weren’t getting up to too much fun without me.”

Feather Bangs perked his head up. “You sure that you’re alright with…this?” He cycled between pointing his hoof between himself, Strongheart, and Braeburn. “I’d hate to ruin whatever good thing you two had going before me.”

Little Strongheart stroked her chin. “Did you still mean all those things you told me weeks ago? Getting to know me and getting close to me?”

“Every word.” Feather Bangs solemnly put a hoof to his chest. “I would never lie to a pretty face.”

“Well there you have it,” she smiled, pointing a hoof at Braeburn. “Just try not to hog him too much.”

“C’mon, sweetheart,” Braeburn chuckled. “Can’t blame him if I’m just so irresistible, can ya?”

“No, I guess not,” Little Strongheart sighed, playfully rolling her eyes. “I can blame him for being so cute you had to have him immediately.”

Both of them watched Feather Bangs’s cheeks light up red as he sputtered and scrambled to his hooves to try and defend himself.

All the way in Manehattan, Cozy Glow opened up a fridge, grabbed a can of soda, and immediately guzzled down half of it in quick succession. “Wow, this stuff tastes different when you’re actually allowed to take it.”

“What, you’re not allowed to drink soda or something?” Babs asked incredulously.

“Nah, it’s just usually never my soda I’m drinking.”

Babs amusedly chuckled, hopping onto the sofa. “Can’t believe the month’s almost ovah…”

“Tch, I can!” Cozy rolled her eyes, joining Babs on the couch. “This month felt like it took forever!”

“Well, we were pretty busy doing a lotta things, weren’t we?”

“Heh, yeah…” Cozy smirked in self-satisfaction. “Sometimes it kinda sucks that the Crusaders are more interested in making others lose than actually winning, though.”

Babs looked off to the side. “Would be nice to not focus on sabotage for once…”

Cozy gasped and looked at Babs like she had just committed an unspeakable offense. “Woah, are you saying you wanna STOP sabotaging others?”

“I didn’t say ‘stop’, I just thought it’d be nice to actually win one of these things! Is it so wrong dat I wanna taste victory?”

“But…all those plans! If not us, who’s gonna take them out?”

“Eh, s’far as I can see, they can do it just fine on their own,” Babs shrugged. “I mean, those dragons got themselves out and we didn’t even talk to any of ‘em dis year.”

Cozy reluctantly shrugged. “Yeah, even Discord taking Twilight out feels like a boring victory if he just gets high off his ass and loses right after.”

“Month’s probably a lot easier when ya ain’t trying to work through so many plans and getting desperate for stress relief, too,” Babs added.

Cozy leaned on Babs’s shoulder, practically clinging onto the mare. “But the scheming is so much fun!”

“I’m not sayin’ it ain’t, and it’s not like I’m never sabotagin’ again,” Babs reassured. “Just wanna focus on other things next time.”

“Hmmph…fine…”

Babs lifted up Cozy’s chin to look her in the eyes with a mischievous smirk. “Sides, if you’re thinking about nothin’ but how to get others to cum on our dates, Imma start getting jealous.”

Author's Note

One year I'll be forced to confront the fact that I have no idea where Cozy would actually live in this alt universe. Maybe she's roomies with Scootaloo or something.