Alone

Chapter 2

A few days have passed since the graduation party now. The best part about graduating? You have time off from school for a few months before you go up to Cloudsdale to work with the other pegasi in the weather factory! You’re going to put those months to good use, though; first things first, you need to find Applebloom and Sweetie Belle. They’ll probably have an awesome idea for what you guys can do!

You open your eyes and lift yourself up out of bed, outstretching your wings a bit and shaking your head quickly. “It’s time to go!” You flip the covers up and hop down to the floor, when you suddenly slip and fall, smacking your head on the hard, wooden surface. “Ow…”

Mental note for later; be more careful when getting out of bed…

You push yourself up off of the floor, and that’s when you notice something… different. Your wings, are they more… powerful? You’re not flexing them for show, no, but they feel like… well, you could fly for a lot longer than usual…

Maybe…

You rush outside and take flight, noticing just how easier it is for you to fly this morning. What could be the reason for it? You decide not to question something good, and instead choose to put it to good use. Time to find the other Crusaders!

Sweat beads along your bare-naked chest and forehead, your breathing staggered as the two of you continue on.

“C’mon, is that all you’ve got, Anon? Faster!” Rainbow Dash calls out to you, urging you to keep going.

Keep going…

Almost there…

Woo! You finally made it! You pump a fist to the air as the two of you reach your predetermined checkpoint, just outside Ponyville, and you collapse to the ground.

“Hah, awesome job Anon, I think we beat a record that time!” she laughs, and you turn to look at her, an exhausted grin on your face, as the two of you bump fist to hoof. She looks around, then up to that huge city in the clouds, and then turns to you. “Hey, so you’re just gonna rest here?”

You nod, your fist falling to the ground as you breathe in and out heavily, your heart rate slowly returning to normal. “Yeah. I’m gonna go ahead and do some stretching, then head on into town. Might grab a bite to eat from Applejack’s stall or something, too.”

“Alright, so I’ll see ya later then, alright Anon?”

You smile and nod, stretching your arms before walking off. Rainbro was such an awesome pony to hang out with. The two of you had just finished your morning run; she would fly alongside you, while you would do your best to keep up with her. She was quite obviously faster than you, but kept her pace with you to help keep you company while you ran.

Besides, having wings and racing against someone whose running isn’t exactly fair, right?

Rainbro waves at you with one hoof, before flying off towards Cloudsdale to begin her daily routine of controlling the weather.

…Though, you both knew that usually consisted of 95% sleeping on clouds, and 5% actual effort on her part. Still, she always did what she was assigned to do that day quicker than any other pegasus you had seen in the few years you’ve been here; that, in and of itself, should be more than enough to justify her actions in your eyes. You chuckle lightly, before beginning your stretches; flexibility is key for keeping yourself fit, after all…

Is that… Anonymous? What’s he doing?

“Oh! Hey Scootaloo!” he calls out to you, waving with his open hand while he leans his entire upper body to one side, reaching for something on his foot…

“Hey Anonymous, what’re ya doin’?” You swerve around and land, flexing your wings a bit before retracting them.

He stands upright again, walking over to you. “Eh, stretching after my morning run. You?”

You turn your head a bit to the side, averting his gaze slightly. “Just flyin’ around. Was going to find Applebloom and Sweetie Belle to go do something today.”

“Oh? Sounds like you’ve got a fun day planned ahead,” he says, chuckling a bit. “You feel better from last night, then? I was worried after the storm began that you might not have gotten home before it hit.”

Your eyes widen and you look at him in surprise. He… he was worried? For you? But he hardly even knew you! “Uh, I ah… Yeah, I got home in time. Not like a storm would have stopped me, though!” You stutter at first, but then return with a confident tone and grin on your face as you stare up at him.

Into… his eyes…

What is up with him and his eyes? They’re… they’re like pools of water that you can peer into and see into an infinite calmness… You don’t even pay attention to what color they are; they’re just… beautiful. Fitting of him…

...Wait, he said something! And you weren’t paying attention, you idiot!

“Um… sure.”

“Great!” he exclaims, pumping a fist into the air. “Let’s go, c’mon, I bet I can beat you there!” he says, sprinting off down the road towards Ponyville.

…Ugh, what have you gotten yourself into this time, Scootaloo?

Run, run, run!

You laugh as the orange pegasus follows close behind, your voice booming through the streets of Ponyville as the two of you make your speedy way through town.

“Wait up!” you hear her call out to you. She’s definitely straining to keep up now.

“Sorry, no can do! It’s a race, after all!”

She lets out a groan, but you return it with a laugh, even turning around to run backwards.

“C’mon, is that the best you’ve got?”

Her eyes widen when she turns back to look at you. “Wah! Anon, watch o-”

…Too late. You go tumbling over a food stall, and land flat on your back, the stall toppling over with you.

“Anon, what’re ya doin’ runnin’ inta my stall for?” you hear from a certain mare’s agitated voice.

…Oh no. Applejack.

You could handle it when she was in a good mood. Bad mood, though… watch out. “Uhm… I, uh…” You stumble over your words (kind of like how you did that stall, heh), trying to figure out the right combination to go with that won’t end up sending you to the hospital.

Applejack had always… tolerated you. Not to the point that the two of you were friends, it was more of “You-get-your-shit-done-and-get-out-of-my-face” kind of deal. Not that any of that mattered anymore; you knew just as well as she did that you did that out of your own stupidity. “I… sorry…”

“Hu-what, sugarcube? Din’ quite catch that. Might want to SPEAK up a bit?” she asks, putting a hoof to her ear, never taking her olive green eyes off you. Shit. You really blew it this time, Anon. You can feel the malice practically SEETHING through her teeth.

“…Sorry for crashing your stall, Applejack. Didn’t mean to, I swear!”

“Didn’t mean to? You just destroyed two weeks worth of apple buckin’! You best have some way t’ pay for it, or ah’m gonna have ya work on the farm until your legs are jelly!”

Oh fuck, not that. ANYTHING but that. You remember last time she had you working on the farm. You couldn’t walk straight for nearly a month. You also had blisters on your feet because she made you do it barefoot. You’ve gotten used to assuming this little extra bit was just out of spite.

“Listen, AJ, I really am-”

“What the HAY did you jus’ call me?!”

Shit. You’re breaking every fucking rule you’ve figured out during your time here, Anon!

Rule #1: “AJ” is reserved for her close friends only. You are not a close friend. Avoid using that name at all costs.

Rule #2: Apples are like family to her. Breaking stalls, stepping on, tossing out half-eaten, it doesn’t matter to her. If you disrespect apples in some way, you incur the wrath of that mare.

Rule #3: Apple-bucking hurts like a motherfucker. Always wear shoes. ALWAYS.

Wow, Applejack’s really grilling him hard… Maybe you should say something on his behalf, maybe take some of the blame off of him?

Wait, why would you do that? He was the one who ran into the stall, not you! It was his own fault, not yours. And yet…

You feel as though you should step in for him. Maybe…

“Um, miss Applejack?”

She stops for a moment and looks up at you. “What d’ya need, sugarcube? Ah’m a bit busy at th’ moment.”

“I know, it’s just… It wasn’t entirely Anon’s fault. See, we sort of agreed to a race, and when I couldn’t keep up, he turned around and started running backwards to try and get me to speed up, and… well…”

“And so he ran into mah stall?” she asks, shooting him a quick glare, before returning to you. “S’that what yer sayin’?”

“…Yeah… pretty much…”

She lets out a heavy sigh, before turning to him. “Anon, yer not gettin’ out o’ this one that easily. Show up at th’ farm at sunrise, ah’m puttin’ ya t’ work.”

You can see his eyes shrink to the size of pinpricks in fear, and the occasional stuttering as he tries to reason with the mare. But it’s no use; everyone knows that Applejack’s as stubborn as ever when it comes to decisions.

“An’ don’t you think yer gettin’ any special treatment either, young lady. Yer showin’ up for apple buckin’ too; maybe you can show Anon a thing or two ‘bout buckin’ that he hadn’t seen yet,” she says with a grin.

Great. There goes your first week of summer break.

You let out an audible groan, and Applejack shoots you a look. “Now don’t you start complainin’; accordin’ to ya, yer just as responsible fer mah stall bein’ totaled as he is for doin’ the totalin’,” she turns to Anon, who has since gotten to his feet. “Show up at sunrise, th’ both of ya. Ah’ll have Big Mac show y’all which orchards need buckin’ when ya get there.”

Ouch. Well, could be worse. At least you’re doing it with Anon.

End Chapter 2

And there's chapter 2. Hope you all are enjoying this story so far, I feel like this could very well be my best work, depending on how I play things out...

~Wuten, the King of Spaghetti