Chapter 8 - Confessions

The next morning, you wake up in a bit of a daze…

“Huh…? What happened last night…?” You rub your eyes with your hooves, when you notice they seem a bit… different.

They’re not soft like before, they’re… sticky?

Like you poured syrup all over them and forgot about it?

You look around the room; your bed sheets are completely strewn about, and you feel… light-headed.

That’s when you look down. And you see it.

“…WAH!”

You kick what little bed sheets remained on your hind legs off, and immediately scramble up against the wall, still staring at your…

…What did you do last night?

Alright. So you… urgh, ‘cleaned up’ after yourself. Sick.

You need to bathe. Seriously, you smell.

“…Why did I do that?” You continue asking yourself this despite not having the answer yourself; it all just sort of… happened…

You outstretch your wings, and try to liftoff from the clubhouse, but you find it more difficult than usual… your wings are too stiff to fly normally.

Fine, fine… hooves can work too-

You don’t even finish that thought before you tumble down the walkway to the clubhouse, smacking your head on the ground below.

“Ow…” You rub your head and take a few moments to get re-oriented, but even then the world is still spinning a bit…

Maybe heading out for a swim at the pond would help… the water always helped you just wash all your troubles away...

Today, it may do that in a more literal sense as well.

“Alright, lake, lake…” You mutter to yourself, trying to figure out how to navigate on foot to the pond. Your lack of wingpower doesn’t exactly help…

After about fifteen minutes of wandering, you finally see a clearing in the trees, and…

“Yes! The lake!” You gallop forward, leaping up into the air once you get to the edge, letting your wings carry you the extra few meters out into the water before landing, the water washing over you, all of your troubles going away…

As you bring your head up from the water, however, a sound brushes across your ears.

“Hey Scootaloo!”

…Applebloom.

“Mind if we join you?” another voice adds.

Both Applebloom and Sweetie Belle are here!

You turn around to them and wave a hoof. Luckily for you, the water has more or less rendered it not sticky anymore. “Hey! C’mon in!” They both gallop down from the trail and splash into the water.

…

There was a trail.

…Smooth move, Scoots.

“Ooh, this is niiiiice!” Sweetie Belle exclaims, floating onto her back and backpaddling over to you. “A morning swim?”

“Y-yeah. It’s still pretty hot out, y’know?”

“I’ll say!” Applebloom replies, diving underwater before coming up next to you. “Just because it ain’t summer anymore don’t mean we can’t still have fun, right?”

“Duh!” You laugh, splashing her a bit before you see the look in her eyes.

That fiery look of revenge, coupled by an almost wolfish grin.

…Oh boy.

And that’s when you go under.

“Haha! Applebloom got you good, Scoots!” Sweetie Belle laughs as the three of you dry off on the shoreline.

“Yeah. But only after I got her first.” You shoot a grin to Applebloom, who returns the same expression.

“Yeah? Well I gotcha better!” she laughs, giving you a shove with her hoof. You grin back at her.

“It sure was nice to get to have fun like this before summer ends,” Sweetie Belle smiles, looking up at the sky, the sun high up above the clouds. “We hardly ever do this anymore, girls.”

“Yeah…” Applebloom replies, rolling over onto her back to stare up at the sky with Sweetie Belle. You do the same. “We might not even be able to do this as much as we do soon, since we’re graduated and all…”

You let out a heavy sigh, closing your eyes and letting the heat of the sun dry your fur. “It’s not so bad, though. At least now we’ll be able to help out the town more than we could when we were just fillies.”

“Yeah. I’m gonna help mah sis’ in the orchard when fall comes!” Applebloom exclaims.

“Mhm. And Rarity will need help carrying all her sewing materials, so I can help her!” Sweetie Belle replies.

Heh. Both of them are helping their sisters…

“Well?” you hear Applebloom’s voice again. Oh, they were waiting for you.

“Um… I guess I’ll still be working at the diner until my wings get stronger… Can’t have weak ponies working for the weather team, y’know.” You open your eyes, smiling at her. “Besides, who else is gonna serve Anon his breakfast every morning?”

…Whoops; that kind of just slipped out…!

You cover your mouth with your hooves, but it’s too late; the words have left your mouth and entered her ears.

She stares at you for a brief moment, before chuckling a bit nervously. “Heh… yeah, I guess so…”

You shake your head quickly, waving your hooves out in front of you. “I-I didn’t mean it like that, I just-”

“No, it’s alright, really,” she says, blushing a bit and turning her head away, hiding a frown. Even after all this time, mentioning Anon still brings up memories of that night for her…

She turns back to look at you. “How… is he?”

“He’s, um…” Darn, you REALLY didn’t mean to do this. Now things are gonna be awkward between you two. “He’s doing well. Yeah…” Ugh…

“…Oh…” she mutters.

“Listen, Applebloom, I didn’t mean to… y’know…”

“No, no, it’s fine…” she says, sighing a bit. “Must be pretty nice t’ see him every day…”

“Eh, it’s really not all you think it is-”

“Y’know, mah big sis told me I ain’t allowed t’ have him over anymore,” she says.

You mentally cringe; you remember her telling the two of you this a few weeks back. She locked herself in her room and only came down when Applejack was outside in the orchard, got something to eat, then quickly galloped back to her room and locked it again. “I… know, Applebloom…”

“B-but that’s okay!” she exclaims. “Because once ah get old enough t’ go out on mah own, Anon an’ I will show her, won’t we?”

Okay. You need to get her to calm down and see reason, Scoots. Like, NOW. “Listen, Applebloom…” You take a deep breath before speaking again. “…What if your sister is right? Maybe he’s just not the one?”

…Excellent choice of words there, Scoots. Real freaking smooth-talker you are.

“…What?”

Well, no turning back now.

“I mean… I know you don’t like what your sister is making you do, but… what if she’s right in the end? I mean, family should come first, right?”

She remains silent; the only sound between the three of you now is the light breeze through the trees.

“Hey, um,” Sweetie Belle quickly cuts in, breaking the silence, “I should probably get back to Rarity, she might need some help…” she mutters, stepping away slowly from the two of you.

“No, Sweetie Belle, I think she’ll be jus’ fine without ya for now.” She turns and glares at you. “An’ just what d’ ya mean by that?”

Sweetie Belle shrinks back a bit, watching the two of you.

“Well, if it creates a rift between you and your family, what’s the point?” You start getting your words more organized now, and you can finally press this coherently. “I mean, what’s the good of running off with someone like that, if you don’t have anyone to support your decision? And what if he said ‘no’? What would you do then?”

“Well, I’d just move on t’ another stallion or someone-”

“No, you wouldn’t, Applebloom, I know. I’ve seen you when you get like this. Remember the stallion you liked back in class, the one with the blonde mane and the sunglasses?”

“Yeah? What about it?” she raises an eyebrow at you.

“Yeah. Same thing here. You get so worked up and so focused on getting one to like you that you can’t handle them saying ‘no’, and cry about it and talk about it for weeks! And I know we’re your friends and all, but it can get a ‘little’ annoying after a while, in case you didn’t already know!” You stop yourself before you go further; you’re raising your voice a LOT more than you had planned.

Applebloom is staring at you wide-eyed, before coming back with a retort. “Well what would YOU know about ‘family comes first’ then, huh?! Where’s YOUR family? Where’s YOUR sister that’s keeping you from the one you love because SHE fell in an’ out o’ love with him first?! Where’s YOUR grandma and brother that won’t even lift a HOOF t’ stop her from it?” she glares daggers at you now. “Well?!”

You’re on the verge of screaming now, tears gathering at your eyes. “Well maybe I don’t need a family! Maybe I’m strong enough to head it on my own! After all, it’s what I’ve done since we were fillies. It’s what I’ve done my whole life, so MAYBE I know what I’m talking about!”

Applebloom is silent.

She sniffles a bit, before turning around and walking away slowly, head hanging down.

Sweetie Belle stares at her as she walks away, before turning to look at you. “Hey, um… Scoots?” she asks, walking over to you and placing a hoof on your back. “You gonna be alright?”

You let out a heavy sigh, wiping your eyes before watching her disappear into the trees. “Yeah, I’m alright. I just… I need some time alone, that’s all.”

You push up into the air, flying away. At least by now, your wings are back to normal.

But why were you so quick to stop Applebloom going after Anon? It couldn’t be that you…

…The way you feel around him, that twinge you get in your chest whenever he smiles at you…

And that look he gives you with his eyes…

…And how you treated yourself last night to the thought of him…

There’s only one possible reason for that…

You can’t deny it any longer.

You’re in love with Anonymous, a creature from another world. And there’s nothing you could say to yourself to convince you otherwise at this point, it’s too much to NOT admit now. Even RAINBOW could tell you liked him…

You get a look of determination in your eyes. You know that Applebloom won’t like it, but you can’t wait any longer.

You’re not sure of how he will react to it, but darn it, you need to at least try! At least you’ll know his answer.

No time for second-guessing yourself! You remember he was telling Rainbow not to get into all his food last night, so maybe he needs more…

Sugarcube Corner!

Woke up in the morning, feeling like P. Diddy.

Wait, who’s that again? You don’t know, but whoever it is, must feel pretty damn good.

You partied hard with Rainbow last night, but Celestia knows you two can’t survive on alcohol and snacks forever. So, being the bro that you are, you’re in Sugarcube Corner getting some sweets while Rainbow’s out on weather duty.

“Hey Pinkie!” You knock on the front counter. “Think you can hook me up with something good?”

Pinkie comes out of the back room and up to the counter, placing her elbow on top of it and grinning at you. “Depends. What’cha got in return?”

You smirk down at her. “Will this be enough?” You pull out a small bag of bits, setting it onto the counter. Odd jobs were hard to come by nowadays, but most of that money was made through bets. What can you say? You have a natural knack for the gambling arts.

You grin at her.

She grins at you.

And then she leans up and boops you on the nose. “Sure! I can whip up something real fast for ya, Anon!” Pinkie giggles, zipping back to the kitchen.

And that’s when you hear it.

Once again, the sound of hooves scuttling about.

No, these weren’t Pinkie’s… these were much smaller. Much more… dangerous.

“Hi Nonny!” you hear a young filly’s voice come from behind you.

Oh boy. It’s the Cake twins…

“Hey kids!” You turn around to smile at them. “…What’s with the bag of flour?”

“We’re gonna ask ya a few questions, that’s all,” Pound Cake grins up at you, shaking the bag of flour. Damn, it’s nearly as tall as he is…

“Yeah! Questions…” Pumpkin Cake drags out the word, giving you a sly, mischievous grin.

“Well, what kinds of questions?”

“We’re curious,” she says, “You’ve been spending a lot of time with Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash lately. Do you… like them?”

“Well sure I do, we’re best friends, after all-”

“No no no, we mean, LIKE like them,” Pound Cake interrupts. “Like, back when you and Applejack used to spend a lot of time-”

“Haha, okay! You know what time it is? Time for the little colt and filly to stop asking personal questions and not worry about-”

“But we want to know!” Pumpkin Cake exclaims. “And you’re gonna tell us, or…” she grins, nodding at her twin brother, who shakes the bag intimidatingly at you.

…Damn. And you just HAD to pick today to wear your favorite shirt. Again. When the hell are you going to learn not to wear your good clothes in places you KNOW they will be at risk, Anon?

Well, too late now.

You take a deep sigh, before looking down at them with a calm expression. “So, you two really want to know, huh?”

They beam with excitement up at you. “Yes!” they both shout in unison.

“Alright. Well, the reason is-”

“Anon!”

You turn to the door just as you hear it open to see a streak of orange and cerise come barreling inside.

Ah, Scoots; you can always depend on her to save your butt. “Heya Scoots, what’s up?”

“There’s something I gotta know, Anon. Something I’ve been meaning to tell you for a while now, but have been too scared to admit after learning what you’ve been through…”

Your eyes widen a bit in surprise.

Wait.

Hold the fucking phone.

She said “after learning what you’ve been through”.

You’ve only told her about your relationship with Applejack.

…

Oh shit. She’s not here to save you.

“Anon, I…” she struggles with her words a bit, and you can see it in her eyes.

Please don’t say it, please don’t say it, please don’t say it…

“…I think I’m in love with you.”

End Chapter 8

Author's Note

Sorry this took so long to get out, had to rework the middle argument section a bit. Hope it's worth the wait!