A little something I'd like to add as a little something extra; this was the music I listened to on repeat while writing this chapter, I think it's fairly fitting to set the mood.

Chapter 10 - The Lake

No matter how long you live in this place, you will never forgive the builders of your house for putting a window RIGHT NEXT TO WHERE YOUR BED IS THAT CELESTIA’S SUNLIGHT CAN SHINE DIRECTLY AT YOU FROM.

“Urgh… my head…” You sit up slowly, rubbing your eyes as they adjust to the now brightened room. Today was your rest day, and boy, did you need it…

You stretch before getting out of bed and go through your normal routine of shower, shit, and shave; the ponies, despite having little to no knowledge of your species, were able to create a bathroom that could accommodate your larger size easily… Must be the minotaurs that stop by from time to time.

You slip into a light t-shirt and some shorts. “Goin’ to the lake, goin’ to the lake…” you improv-sing to yourself; nobody’s around, not like anyone’s gonna hear…

“Anon!” you hear an energetic voice from outside, followed by a knocking.

Must be Scoots. You smile, slipping into some shoes and walking to the front door, opening it to see the bouncing, excited orange mare standing outside. “Ready for an awesome time? I know I am!” she exclaims, grinning.

“Hah, me too! Lemme grab a few snacks and I’ll be right out; c’mon in!”

You haven’t forgotten what happened between the two of you yesterday at Sugarcube Corner, but it looks like she’s held true to her word and isn’t letting that come between the friendship the two of you share.

You smile, letting her inside your home while you head into the kitchen, collecting a few snacks, drinks, and a large cloth blanket into a bag, slinging it over your shoulder and walking back out into your living room. “Ready to go?”

“About time!” she taunts, and you ruffle her mane before walking outside, shutting the door behind you two and heading down the trail to the lake.

“So Scoots, I guess you slept well last night?”

“Uh huh! Wanted to get up early for this, wouldn’t miss it!” she grins up at you, trotting beside you as you pass by ponies out about their business.

“Cool. Got some snacks for us pre-made last night. I think you’ll like ‘em.”

“Awesome!”

The two of you continue down the trail to just outside Sweet Apple Acres, where the trail forks down to the barn and the Apple family’s home, and to the lake the other way.

“I’d say ‘I’ll race ya there’, Anon, but you’re carrying food, so I’m not gonna,” she giggles as the two of you take the right trail, the lake slowly coming into view.

“Heh, thanks.”

As you get closer, though, her pace begins to quicken just a tad. “There it is!” she exclaims at last, breaking into a full gallop, her wings flapping and gathering even more speed, her form gliding along the ground before landing at the shore. “You coming, Anon?”

You chuckle, walking over to a nearby tree and setting the bag down in the shade; despite it being near the beginning of autumn, the sun was still beating down on you full-force. Perfect for a day at the lake.

Hm… the spot is fairly close to a small ledge, which overlooks the entire rest of the lake…

This gives you an idea.

“Sure! Gimme a sec.” Stretching, you pull off your shirt and shoes, before grinning wickedly at Scoots.

She’ll never see it coming.

Starting out slowly at first, you eventually break into a full sprint…

Right. At. Scoots.

Her eyes widen and she shows a mix of surprise, fear, excitement, and a lot of other things you don’t have time to take into consideration right now.

Leaping into the air, you easily clear over her head, creating an enormous splash as you crash into the waters below. You stay underwater for a few more seconds, before coming up and taking a deep breath of fresh air, relaxing on your back as you float calmly on the lake.

“Anon, you idiot!” she calls out from the shore. “You could’ve taken my head off doing that!”

“But I didn’t, did I?”

You turn to give her a grin, and she puffs her cheeks out in a pout before grinning. “So that’s how it’s gonna be, huh?”

…Oh no. You recognize that look. It’s the same look that Rainbow gives you whenever she’s about to try something entertaining… at your expense.

Quickly, you take a deep breath of air before diving underwater, watching the surface as a shadow casts across the sky, stopping for a moment before getting bigger…

And bigger…

…Oh shit. Swim, Anon! Swim for your life!

You take a few well-timed breaststrokes before the orange blur of fur plunges into the depths of the lake after you, grin plastered on her face.

Shit, shit, shit… time to kick it into overdrive, Anon!

Kick! Stroke! Kick! Stroke! Kick-

You hear a muffled yelp before surfacing for air, and you turn around to see a gasping Scoots struggling on the surface.

“Scoots?!” You quickly swim over to her, helping her get back stable on the surface. “Scoots, you alright?”

“Y-yeah, you just…” she coughs out a bit, before continuing a bit weaker, “…fell right for it.”

SHIT.

She grins, leaping and tackling you underwater, holding you under for a few seconds before pulling you up. “Gotcha, Anon!”

“Not cool, I thought I smacked you with my foot or something?”

“You did!” she grins, waving a hoof, “But I dodged it just in time, so it just hit my hoof. Worked great, huh? Had you going there for a sec, didn’t I?”

This fucking clever mare.

You chuckle, lightly punching her shoulder before both of you lay back and floating carelessly on the water.

“Hey, Anon?” You feel her eyes looking at you, even though yours are closed.

“Yeah Scoots?”

“…Sorry about yesterday,” she mutters. “I dunno what came over me; really, it just sort of… slipped out.” You hear her breathe in deep through her nose.

“Hey, don’t worry ‘bout it. We’re chilling out now, so it’s all good, right?”

She’s silent for a moment or two, and then you hear her chuckle. “Yeah, Anon. Glad we didn’t let that get between our friendship, right?”

“Yeah. Hey, you hungry?”

“Nah, I’m no-” she begins, but her stomach has other plans, it seems. And it’s made its point known to both of you.

The two of you burst out laughing, before you sink back vertically, swimming back to shore. “C’mon, let’s get something to eat.”

She nods, following you back to shore. “You gonna dry off, Anon?” she asks when she reaches the shoreline, shaking the water off her, flapping her wings a bit to fling the water off.

“Nah. I’ve got something for us to sit on in the bag; I’ll just sit on that.”

She shrugs, floating in the air next to you. The two of you walk over and you reach into the bag, pulling out the cloth and laying it out in the shade. “So, what’d you bring?” she asks, sitting on the cloth.

Brushing your feet off, you pick up the bag and then step onto the cloth, sitting down before reaching into the bag. “Something I think you’ll like.” You pull out a bottle of water for yourself and a thermos for Scoots; you filled it with juice for her last night. Unscrewing it, you hand it to her, before reaching into the bag once again…

“C’mon Anon!” she pouts, “I’m dying to know!”

You grin, pulling out your late-breakfast early-lunch meal. Two sandwiches, one for each of you. “Here ya go!” You hand her one, and she eyes it, tilting her head for a moment before taking a bite.

You don’t think you’ve ever seen or heard that sound come from her. It was something akin to… a yelp and a moan? Dunno.

“A-Anon, this is delicious!” she exclaims, looking at you. “What is it?”

You shrug. “Human secret recipe. Like it?”

“Do I? I love it!” she grins, taking another bite.

Heh. Secret recipe. Motherfucking peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, man. Gets ‘em every time.

“Glad to hear,” you chuckle, taking a bite out of your own sandwich, drinking from your water bottle.

Silence envelops the two of you, sans for the sound of the lake and trees around you and the sounds of chewing. A rush of wind blows across your back and you shiver; you probably should have put on a shirt before you started eating. The shade was blocking the sunlight, after all, so there was nothing for it to cool off…

Scoots looks up at you, before outstretching a wing up to cover your back. “Heh, you probably should have put on your shirt again, Anon,” she chuckles, blushing lightly before taking another bite.

DON’T YOU BLOW THIS SCOOTALOO YOU’RE SO CLOSE DON’T BLOW IT!!

Anon is counting on you to keep his back shielded from the wind!

Okay, looks like it’s working so far…

Another breeze comes, and like before, the wing shields you successfully. “Thanks, Scoots.”

She nods silently, continuing to eat.

Yet another breeze rolls on by, but this time you feel a light tickling on your back, causing you to stiffen up a bit.

Scoot’s eyes widen and she immediately retracts her wing, hanging her head a bit.

“Anon, I…” she mutters, still not meeting your gaze, “…I-”

Before she can finish, she’s interrupted by a shrill cry coming from behind the two of you. Turning, you immediately see who it came from.

…

“Applebloom…?”

End Chapter 10

Author's Note

Hope you enjoyed! It's a bit more light-hearted than the previous few, so I hope it was a nice break from all the heavy stuff that's been and is going to be going down lately.

~Wuten