On this sunny day, Matt and Applejack exit their house, with Clementine standing at the door, waiting for them to leave. Princess Celestia had invited the family to her castle, for a fun in the sun pool party. No special occasion, no birthday party, just an old fashioned good time. Matt and Applejack were excited to go, but Clementine wanted to stay home to relax.
“Are you sure you want to stay?” Matt asks, as he hold his and Applejack’s swimwear and sunscreen in hand. “I’m sure Dawning Shield and Allotrope will be there. Slip Wing, as well.”
“Nah, I’ll be fine.” Clementine shakes her head. “I just want ta stay indoors and watch some TV.”
“We don’t want ya stayin’ home all alone.” Applejack says with slight worry, “What if there’s an emergency?”
“Mom, it’s fine.” Clementine chuckles, “I’m a big filly, now. Ya don’t need ta get all worried up bout me.”
“Ooohh…” Applejack puts a hoof on Clementine’s cheek, giving it a playful rub. “Mah little filly is all grown up. Just don’t grow up too fast, ya hear?”
“Ah won’t, mom.” she smiles. “I’ll still be the same age when y’all get back.”
“Ya better!” Applejack laughs, “We’ll see ya in a few. Have a good day, sweetie.”
Applejack and Matt leave, waving goodbye to Clementine, who waves back.
Once her mother and father are gone from her sight, Clementine waltzes to the television for some early morning cartoon programming. Despite being almost out of high school, even a mare such as herself enjoys some harmless animated programming.
Before she can get comfortable, the magic powered mailbox in the kitchen poofs out a scroll, catching her attention. Looks like cartoons will have to wait for a few moments. The scroll is addressed to the Clementine, and it’s from Slip Wing. Before she even reads the letter, Clementine is already smiling at the prospect of what the letter might entail.
Only two words are written on the parchment. “Morning, beautiful.”
Clementine’s heart sings at the words. The two have been going out for months, and its been nothing but sunshine and rainbows for the lovebirds. Their dates aren’t much different from their hangout when they were just good friends; dinner or lunch, followed by a movie and a trip to the arcade for some friendly competition, but where the dates differ in how they end. When they were merely friends, the two would hug or bump hooves, but now, their days together end in kisses.
Other nights, their dates would end in something more than that.
Clementine and Slip Wing have hidden their sexual relationship away from their parents, with neither one catching on that there’s something more than just hugging and kissing going on. Applejack was the only one of the four parents that was certain something happened on prom night, especially since Clementine and Slip Wing spent the night over in the Crystal Empire. However, Clementine, in an inspired bit of acting, managed to convince the Element of Honesty that she and Slip Wing slept in separate rooms, much to her mother’s relief.
Celmentine was surprised that her father needed little convincing, but she’s always scared of what would happen if he found out the truth. While she loves her father dearly, he can be pretty protective, almost scarily so at times. It’s a great quality to have, especially in moments of danger, like a sudden cerberus attack, but not in moments where he would potentially discover that his daughter and her coltfriend are engaged in coitus.
“Good morning to you too, handsome. Staying home, too? Thought you would have gone to Celestia’s pool party.” Clementine writes on the same parchment, sending it back.
It only takes a few moments for the letter to come back, now with new words written on it.
“I felt like sticking around to watch cartoons. Are your folks home? If not, maybe I can come over.” It says, complete with a cutely drawn smiley face at the end of it.
Clementine grins, writing “Maybe. I’ll think about it.” on the paper.
Cartoons are going to have to wait for Clementine, as all that’s on her mind at this moment is a good old fashion texting session, not unlike something Matt would see back in his world.
A couple hours pass, and Matt and Applejack are already at Canterlot, relaxing in the pool area of Canterlot Castle. Matt is laying in the sun with Quill Pen and Shining Armor, while Applejack tests the waters with her hoof. Celestia and Cadance are floating on giant inflatable rafts in the expansive pool, and Allotrope and Dawning Shield are playfully splashing one another, all the while making extremely obvious lovey-dovey eyes that Shining Armor can see a mile away. Ditzy-Doo is cozying up in the hot tub, while there is seemingly no sign of Chrysalis.
Applejack saunters up to Matt and the others, wearing a nice blue swimsuit that catches Matt’s attention immediately with its form fitting nature. Matt raises up his sunglasses to take a clearer gander. Applejack looks at the attention with amusement, chuckling at his reaction.
“Hey, you.” Applejack says with sultriness, “Want to take a dip with me?”
“That would be nice.” Matt smiles, but then puts his sunglasses back down to lay down again. “Five minutes, and you’re all mine.”
“Don’t take too long, sugercube.” Applejack does her best super model turn and trots away.
Shining Armor and Quill Pen watch as Applejack stands at the edge of the pool, and does a perfect swan dive into the water. She swims towards Rarity and Donut Joe, who are flirting it up in at the end of the pool, skirting past Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy, who are attempting to play Marco Polo in the center of it all.
“Got you!” Pinkie Pie, with her eyes closed, grabs Applejack’s back leg in victory. “I win!”
“It’s just me, Pinkie.” Applejack corrects her. “Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy are to your left.”
“Good to know! Thanks, Applejack” Pinkie does an enthusiastic salute of gratitude, never closing her eyes, turning towards Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. “Marco!”
“AJ, you traitor!” Rainbow Dash swims away from Pinkie quickly to avoid getting caught.
Shining Armor and Quill Pen continue to watch Applejack as she makes it to her destination. They look to Matt, who is still relaxing with his eyes now closed. Shining Armor is aghast at his friend’s near casual attitude towards Applejack in such a fetching get up, wondering why he’s not standing up and joining her in an instant.
“How do you do it?” Shining Armor asks.
“Well…when a man and a mare love each other very much…”
“No, not that!” Shining Armor waves it away with a laugh, “I mean, how do you stay calm and collected with Applejack looking so…”
“Hey…” Matt points a finger at Shining Armor without even looking at him, “You checking out my wife?”
“Huh?”
“You’re about to say ‘looking so hot,’ aren’t you?”
“Umm…not entirely?”
“Why did you answer that in the form of a question?”
“Because I’m really nervous?” Shining Armor says in a squeaky, and increasingly worried tone of voice.
Matt stays still for more than a few moments. Even Quill Pen is looking at the situation with bated breath, hoping that it resolves soon enough. He wouldn’t dare to walk into the middle of this potential conflict.
Suddenly, Matt lets out a chuckle, playfully punching Shining armor on the shoulder. “I’m just messing with you, Shining.” he says in a disarmingly amused fashion. “I thought you knew me better, by now.”
“You can still be pretty scary sometimes.” Shining Armor chuckles nervously, “Everypony knows how protective you can be.” He lets out a sigh of relief, before continuing with “But, my question still stands. Applejack saunters up to you, gives her best seductive voice, and you act like it’s no big deal.”
“First of all, if you think that’s her best seductive voice…I’m happy you don’t know her as well as I do. Second of all…it’s not NOT a big deal. My heart is pumping a thousand miles a second right now, but I feel like hanging out with you fine gents for a little while longer.”
“Aw, thanks, Matt.” Quill Pen smiles. He looks around the pool, nothing the absence of a certain somepony. “Hey, Clementine didn’t show?”
“Nah, she wanted to stay home.” Matt looks around, noticing the absence of another. “What about Slip? Did he want to stay home, too?”
“Yeah. Said that he wanted to relax and play video games.”
“Interesting. Clementine said she wanted to relax and watch television.”
The two father stay still for a while, as thoughts of something other than watching television and playing video games enters their heads. Shining Armor says nothing.
“Umm…you don’t think…” Quill Pen says.
Matt and Quill Pen again engage in a bout of silence, before letting off a dismissive “Nahhhh…” simultaneously. In the back of their minds, though, they are far from dismissive.
Matt looks back to see Applejack talking with Rarity and Donut Joe. As she talks, she looks straight towards Matt, staring at him with her sparkling emerald eyes that he cannot help but fall victim to. The two gaze at one another, and any trouble Matt was feeling seconds ago seems to have faded away. He stands up and removes his sunglasses, placing them on the chair he was laying on.
“Sorry, fellas. Five minutes sounds like too long a time, and AJ is giving me the eyes.”
“What kind of eyes?” asks Shining Armor.
“The kind I cannot resist.” Matt smiles. “I’ll talk to you two later.”
Shining Armor and Quill Pen watch Matt do a cannonball dive into the pool, and starts to swim towards Applejack in an excited pace. Shining Armor shakes his head at the spectacle and chuckles.
“I swear, no matter how old he’s going to get, he’s always going to act like a young and rambunctious colt whenever he’s around her.”
“Of course he is.” A familiar voice says behind them. The two stallions don’t have time to turn around, when Queen Chrysalis comes beside them, and lays down on the chair Matt was once on. She floats Matt's sunglasses up, and places them on her eyes. Chrysalis curls her body, and looks to the sun with a relaxed sigh. “Matt is eternally in love. I bet that even when he grows old, he will still be as he is now.”
“Chrysalis?” Shining Armor is shocked to see her. “Were you behind us this whole time?”
“Of course not. I was behind you half the time.” she chuckles. Her eyes then glance to Dawning Shield and Allotrope; still playing in the pool together. “They make a fine couple, don’t you think, Shining Armor?”
“Yeah.” Shining Armor’s shock fades at her words, and smiles and nods in agreement. “Dawning and Allotrope remind me of me and Cadance back in the day. He was quite smitten with her when she arrived at the castle. Truthfully, we thought of no other suitor better for him that she.”
“Quite a change of attitude from way back when, wouldn’t you say?” she chortles. “After all, you did have a bit of a hatred for changelings.”
“That was the old me.” Shining Armor shakes his head, considering his past attitude water under the bridge. “Besides, you did try to take over the kingdom and pose as Cadance.”
“True. I suppose the initial bias was deserved.” Chrysalis shrugs. “Still, I am happy for young Dawning Shield. To be honest, I sort of saw this fate coming, even before he met little Allie.”
“What do you mean?”
“I caught him checking me out a few times, when he was younger.” Chrysalis laughs as Shining Armor’s eyes widen with a hint of a blush. “It seemed that he had a liking for changelings. That, or fascinating creatures in general. If he was somehow unable to woo one of the female members of my army, he certainly would have ended up with a dragon, or a griffon.”
“As long as he was happy, I would approve. By the way, Chrysalis, how is your army doing?”
“As well as can be expected. Some are traveling the world, other have found love and are living in happiness. I would hear back from them, from time to time, to report about their lives.” Chrysalis catches a bit of worry on Shining Armor’s face. “Do not worry yourself, I have no intention of restarting any plans of taking over Equestria. There’s too many things I love here.”
“That’s a relief.” Shining Armor sighs, but then catches himself. “I-I mean I’m happy for them, and for you, honest.”
“Thank you. You two gentlecolts don’t mind if I stay and relax, would you?”
“Of course not!” Quill Pen says happily. “It’s always a pleasure to be in the presence of royalty.”
“Oh?” Chrysalis turns to Quill with a deviant grin. “I seem to have myself a fan. I’m honored by your kindness.”
“Chrysalis!” Ditzy Doo suddenly comes running to Quill Pen’s side. “You trying to woo my husband away?”
“What gave you that idea?” Chrysalis goes over the top with her feigning shock. Gasping loudly and placing a hoof on her chest, as if offended by Ditzy’s question. “I’ll have you know, good mare, that I am in a committed relationship!”
“You better be!” Ditzy Do embraces Quill Pen tightly. “No mare will get her hooves on my Quill, not even the Queen of the Changelings herself!”
“Ditzy…” Quill Pen struggles to breathe, due to Ditzy’s tight grip. “…having a little trouble here.”
Shining Armor smiles at the scene and laughs.
Done with talking to Slip Wing, Clementine has recommenced watching television. Her eyes glance to the movie shelf, see all the various titles and genre’s that she and her family owns. Their collection ranges from Pony films, to human films from Matt’s world. The question is, which one does she want to watch? Sometimes, she likes to watch a cheesy action flick, but others, she enjoys a good old fashioned fantasy epic. Very rarely, does she find herself watching a romance, as she is more of a special effects heavy action picture kind of mare.
As she scans the collection, her eyes fall on the calendar. The date, the fourteenth of August, isn’t anything special, as far as events go. No birthdays, no anniversaries, nothing that could make her want to jump off the couch to do anything.
However, there’s something about the date that remains troublesome to her, like an event that hadn’t occurred yet; something that should have happened about a week ago.
“Wait…” Clementine whispers to herself. She walks over to the calendar, flipping it to the previous month.
A red x mark is on the first week of July. The x signifies whenever Clementine hits her menstrual cycle. She had a habit of marking down the calendar whenever it happened, to warn her parents that she could become a bit irritable during those times. However, August currently remains unmarked. Clementine’s cycle happens within the first week of every month, and yet she is a week late.
“How can I be…” Clementine quietly asks, until…
A thought dawns in her head. The type of thought that could change everything if made into reality. But…no, it can’t be. Clementine shakes her head in an attempt to rid this potentially terrible thought, but it’s not working. In fact, it’s only making the thought stronger. She has to be sure. She has to be sure that she isn’t thinking the worst has happened.
At the Ponyville Convenience store, Cheerilee is collecting a few items for a little get together she is hosting for some friends. Some chips, bean dip, and a few bottles of wine sound perfect in the mind of the cheerful school teacher.
Cheerilee passes by the pharmacy, where she sees an interesting sight at the corner of her eye. Clementine, staring at a rack full of pregnancy tests. The image makes Cheerilee tilt her head, wondering why she is in such an area. The thought that Clementine is getting one for herself briefly crosses her mind, but she ignores it as soon as it arrived.
“Clementine?” Cheeilee walks up to her, making the young mare flinch. “Oh, I’m sorry, dear. I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“O-Oh, ya didn’t scare me, Cheerilee.” Clementine feigns a smile. “How are ya?”
“I’m good. How are things with you?”
“I’m great. Just great! Was doin’ a bit of shoppin’ while the family is out, is all.”
“I see.” Cheerilee glances at the pregnancy tests. “Is…your mom expecting another baby?”
“Huh?” Clementine is about to tell her why she’s really here, but she freezes. Why would she tell her the truth? She doesn’t want Cheerilee to tell anypony the real truth; that she’s here to figure out whether or not she’s pregnant. However, what can she tell her? What could she say to get suspicion off of her? “Oh…” Clementine’s mind races to find a little white lie, when… “Yeah. Mom missed her cycle, and told me ta find a test for her. She didn’t want ta tell Dad, because she wanted it to be a surprise if it turned out ta be true.”
“How lovely!” Cheerilee lips curl into a bright and lovely smile. “Well, hooves crossed! I can’t wait for the announcement, if it ends up being true, of course.”
“Y-Yeah…hooves crossed.”
Clementine races back home, placing the paper bag on the table. She paces back and forth, staring at the contents, in disbelief that she even bought them. She cannot help but think back to all the times she and Slip Wing had an intimate moment. The two were so caught up in the throes of passion, that neither one thought to use any sort of protection.
“How could ya be so stupid, Clem?” she says to herself. “This is bad. This is very bad! What if…what if it’s positive? What will we do?! I’m not prepared to be a mother!”
On thing she is sure about, is that she does not want to find out alone. She gets a piece of paper, places the pen in her mouth, and starts to write a note to send to Slip.
The train arrives at the Ponyville Station, and Applejack and Matt, all dried off from their little swim and out of their swimsuits, step off of the train. Along with the wet swimsuits in a plastic bag, Matt holds a bag full of tasty treats from Celestia, who gave it to them as a parting gift. The two walk through town, saying their afternoons to the various ponies that would look their way.
“Aw, shoot.” Applejack says. “Ah have ta pick up some vegetables from the grocery store.”
“That’s fine. I’ll go with you.”
“No, ya got all that stuff in yer hand. Ya go on ahead, I’ll see you soon.”
“Okay, don’t take too long.” Matt smiles and waves as she takes off. He goes on ahead.
As he passes by the house that belongs to Ditzy Do and Quill Pen, Slip Wing comes hopping out the front door, heading towards a familiar direction.
“Hey, Slip!” Matt calls out, catching the young Pegasus’ attention.
“Oh, Mr. Williams!” Slip gets nervous immediately upon seeing him, still unable to get the meeting between him and Matt during prom night out of his head.
“Hey, no more of that ‘Mr. Williams’ stuff.” Matt goes to his side with a happy grin. “You can call me Matt. After all, you’re practically part of the family already.”
“O-Oh…” Slip Wing blushes, “Th-Thank you.”
“You headed towards the house?” Matt asks.
“Yeah. Clementine asked me to come over. Is that okay?”
“Sure! Applejack and I make pretty big dinners, so there will be more than enough if you come along. Let’s go!” Matt leads Slip Wing towards the house. “So, how are things with you and Clem?”
“Things are great. Never better.” Slip Wing smiles. “Time surely flew fast, ever since we got together.”
“It’s going to fly even faster, with you two going to Canterlot University next month. Taking the same classes together?” Matt says teasingly with a chuckle.
“No. We don’t want to be THAT joined at the hip.” Slip Wing laughs. “I think Clementine is planning on joining the buckball team the minute she gets there. I’m not much for sports.”
“You never know. Clementine could always use a Pegasus on her team.”
“Heh, maybe…” Slip Wing blushes at the thought. “You think I’d be a good buckball player?”
“Why not? Never hurts to try it out. You always were a strong colt, Slip, and a great flyer.”
“W-Wow.” Slip awes, “That’s really flattering to hear…Matt. Thanks for that.”
“Anytime.” Matt nods. The two continue on their walk. They trek on in silence as they move out of town, and onto the road that will eventually lead to their house. Matt looks to Slip. “Hey…Slip?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m glad it’s you.”
Slip Wing stops, looking up at Matt in confusion. While Slip looks confused, Matt is looking down on him in admiration, and even a bit of pride.
“What do you mean?” Slip wonders.
“Clem has always had feelings for you. Ever since you came back from living in Manehattan, she always had a lot of fondness whenever she saw you. You were all she would talk about. It was ‘Wow, Slip was so cool today,’ and ‘Ya’ll never believe what happened with me an’ Slip!’” Matt chuckles as he does his best impersonation of his daughter. “When I found out you two got together…yeah, I was a bit protective of her, but deep down, I was a little relieved. It was nice to know that you felt the same way.”
“I always felt the same way, Matt. I love Clem. Believe me, when I found out she loved me, it was the best day of my life. I vowed to do everything in my power to stick by her through thick and thin, and never screw things up.”
“That’s good to hear. You remind me of myself, when I fell for AJ.” Matt looks up at the sky, noting that clouds are starting to loom overhead. “Looks like we’re going to have some summer rain. We should head to the house quick.”
Matt and Slip Wing make it to the house within minutes, thanks to a nice helping of power walking. The two get inside as if it was raining outside, despite the fact that no rain has even occurred yet. Matt and Slip look around the living room, but find no Clementine.
“Clementine?” Matt calls out. “I’m home! And I brought a friend!”
Clementine, in her bedroom, hears the voice of her father. She gasps loudly, afraid that he’ll discover a pretty big mistake she left on the dining room table.
“Hey, Clem!” Slip calls out as well.
Clementine buries her face in her forelegs, tears forming in her eyes. “Oh no, oh no, oh no.” Clementine whispers and sobs.
Matt walks to the dining room, seeing a paper bag on the table. He walks towards it, and begins to peer inside.
“Did you go grocery shopping, Clem? Your mother is at the st….”
Matt freezes in place as he peers inside. Slip Wing walks into the dining room, seeing Matt staring into the bag as if it was the abyss itself. Clementine rushes into the dining room, already with tears in her eyes, and shaking in her hooves. Slip Wing looks at the two, wondering what exactly is going on.
Matt slowly reaches into the bag, pulling out a pregnancy test box. Slip Wing’s eyes go wide, now realizing why Clementine wrote for him. Clementine can’t bear to look at her father’s expression, which is a combination of shock, confusion, and disappointment.
“Clem…” Matt says in an intimidatingly calm voice “What is this?”
“It’s…” Clementine’s voice cracks “It’s a pregnancy test?”
“Is this for Mom?”
“N-No.”
“Is this for you?”
“Y….yes…” Clementine answers in a near whisper.
“Why is this for you?”
“I….” Clementine tries to swallow the lump in her throat, but she can’t. “I…I’m…late.”
Slowly, Matt places the box down, all the while looking at Clementine, who’s lip is quivering, and tears going down her cheeks.
Just as slowly, but with way more intimidation and a hell of a lot more anger, Matt sets his sights on Slip Wing, who is frozen in absolute fear.
“I…I didn’t know…” Slip says, shaking.
“You…never used protection?” Matt says with that same eerie calm that he had for Clementine.
“No.” Slip admits. He sees Matt’s hand clench into a fist, shaking with rage. “Matt…I…”
Matt raises his hand into a stop signal, silencing whatever Slip Wing was about to say. His hands then move back down, as he gradually says “That’s…Mr. Williams…to you.”
Matt rests his hand on a chair.