“So, y’all can’t even figure out how to get two ponies together?” Apple Bloom let out a sigh, leaning back in her seat as she shook her head.
Morning Glory stared across the table at the country mare, Sweetie Belle turning to her right to do the same. The two waited for the newcomer to slap upon them some romance truths.
With a second sigh, Apple Bloom leaned her elbows on her kitchen table. She looked over to her longtime friend (and short time acquaintance) with a calm, knowing gaze. She was gonna blow their minds, obviously.
“Potions.”
That was really all she needed to say. She knew potions, and potions had never failed her before. Aside from the times that they had indeed failed her.
Sweetie Belle looked at her with no small amount of shock. “We didn’t bring you here to suggest drugging two gay boys, even if that would make it much easier to convince one of them.”
Apple Bloom shot back an insulted look, but before she could respond she was interrupted by the shy raising of a light blue hoof.
Again, all ponies were quiet, but this time turned to Morning Glory in order to hear what he needed to say. And yet the silence still lasted for quite a bit, as the soft cold questioned if he was really allowed to speak.
He tapped his hoof tips together, giving off the smallest blush. “I… don’t exactly think I want him drugged either. It seems kind of mean…”
Apple Bloom’s face went from insulted to downright angry for a moment. But it was only a moment. She let out a breath to calm herself down, then shook her head. “I can’t believe y’all think I’m that dumb. I ain’t talkin’ about love potions!” She tapped her hindleg impatiently. “Card just needs a little push, is all. So, all I’m sayin’ is give him a truth serum, or maybe just something to keep him from running.” At that, she tapped her chin with a hoof.
The two other ponies took this small moment of thought to look at each other with a bit of surprise and shock. Sweetie Belle turned to Apple Bloom, opening her mouth to respond.
But, of course, she was interrupted by the kitchen door being kicked in very loudly and very rudely. This caused everyone in attendance to jump and guard themselves, though some higher and more guarded than others. All shivered slightly as the cold night air flooded in.
And in stepped Scootaloo, sauntering along inside with a large grin before plonking herself down at the table quickly, sitting right across from Apple Bloom. She kept grinning right up until she noticed both of her friends staring at her.
“What? There somethin’ on my face?” Scoot asked, but didn’t wait any amount of time before wiping her face off vigorously.
Both Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom shrugged, but Sweetie was the first to lean forward to respond. “Where have you been? We were supposed to meet like an hour ago!”
Scootaloo rolled her eyes. “I kinda had something to do first.” She pulled gently on her shirt, a very blatant blue and yellow Wonderbolts jersey, to prove a point. This just ended up getting face paint all over it, much to her slight dissatisfaction.
Even still, she looked to the empty chair to her left, then gestured to it grandly. “And look! Morning isn’t even here yet, so stop whining.”
There was a small silence that gave way to a soft squeak that gave way to a distinctly male voice from under the table. “I’m, uh, actually down here.”
Startled, Scootaloo scooted her chair back to see Morning Glory blushing heavily as he curled up in front of her. She was at a loss for words for a moment.
So she just stared at him for a bit longer as he got out from under the table. “I thought you were gay.” She said, finally finding her words, before turning to Sweetie Belle. “I thought he was gay?”
“He’s gay, Scootaloo.” Sweetie told her with a good amount of impatience. “Now, could we just-”
“Could be bi.” Apple Bloom chipped in with a smirk. “I mean, he’s definitely hangin’ around with mares a whole lot.” With that, she gestured a hoof at Sweetie Belle.
While the three fillies bickered over just who was what sexuality, Morning Glory managed to sit himself down in his new seat, his face still completely on fire with a blush. He was forced to bury his face in his hooves. “Could we just get this over with quickly, please? I still have to be home for dinner.”
All the girls grumbled in response and settled back down, Scootaloo even pulling her newfound chair back to where she found it and finally joining the rest of the group.
“Alright so, Cardinal-” Morning began before quickly being interrupted by Scootaloo.
“So, are you gay?” She asked in a very painfully serious manner. “I mean, why would you be under the table if you were?” She finished that question with an inquisitive look.
Just as soon as he thought it was completely gone, Morning Glory’s blush returned with a vengeance, lighting up his entire face as he turned away. “I’m very gay! I just…” he sputtered out a small, gasping breath as he tried to follow that up, “I just… got really scared when you came in, is all.”
Scootaloo just shrugged. “Still feeling pumped from that Wonderbolts show!” She said just a bit overly loudly, to the point where it echoed just a bit.
Almost immediately, Apple Bloom put a hoof to her snoot and shushed Scootaloo, then perked her ears to listen for any sounds in the adjacent rooms. After hearing a whole lot of silence, she glared just a bit at Scootaloo. “You gotta quiet down. Granny’s tryin’ to sleep and isn’t takin’ too kindly to ponies waking her up these days.”
Even as bombastic and rebellious as she was, Scootaloo couldn’t help but dip her head in apology. “Sorry AB. How’s she doing anyway?”
Apple Bloom shrugged. “Pretty normal, but she’s still peeved by that whole park thing.” While she moved to explain further, she was quickly interrupted by Sweetie Belle tapping her hoof on the table.
“Listen, I wasn’t exactly expecting to be planning this for twelve hours. Rarity wants me back home,” Sweetie paused to look up at the clock across from her, seeing that it was currently 8:30 PM, to with che gave a great sigh, “Thirty minutes ago. I might die tonight.”
Scootaloo was, of course, the first to wave that off and shrug. “Yeah, whatever. We can take care of it after school tomorrow.”
This found Apple Bloom clearing her throat, then shaking her head. “Nnnnope. Gotta help Cardy with his homework. Might be cute, but he’s not too smart when it comes to school work.” There was a small beat of silence following her sentence, after which her eyes lit up. “Wait, I think I’ve got an idea.”
After that, the four ponies parted ways to head home and go to sleep in preparation for school the next day. Minus Apple Bloom, who had already skipped step one.
The day following that was almost exceedingly normal, only filled with very tired classmates and a very boring lesson taught by an equally tired Cheerilee, though her tired was mostly due to dealing with somewhat cranky teenagers.
It got to the point that the incessant chattering and constant sleeping of a small amount of her class (though most especially Scootaloo and Cardinal) made the poor teaching mare retreat to her desk to grab a stack of papers.
This made the entire class groan. While they had brought this upon themselves, they didn’t expect to get any homework on a Monday. Not that it would be very hard for most of them. Most of them.
Cheerilee tossed out the papers, just a short worksheet really, to the ponies in the front row for them to pass back to their classmates behind them. She then returned to her desk to let out a deep sigh.
It had nothing on the collective sigh let out by the class. They knew that, while it would be easy, it would cut into their precious freetime.
It seemed that only three ponies in the class were silently thanking whatever fate brought their teacher to bring this upon them.
Apple Bloom turned to Sweetie Belle with a sure grin, as she had been doing most of the Cheerilee prodding. In turn, Sweetie Belle smiled towards Morning Glory, who was pressing a hoof to his chest while sinking deeper below his desk.
Scootaloo continued to snore behind Morning Glory, her own page of homework laying directly on her face as she did her snooze.
Cardinal, the object of Morning’s current affection, mirrored his fellow winged pony in slumber, though his homework was instead right beside his head, right in a puddle of his drool.
Needless to say, the two pegahorses were the first out the door once the bell rang, though Cardinal beat Scootaloo who was still dealing with a paper stuck to her face. She threw it off just in time to make the race close, but her momentary distraction proved to be her undoing.
The rest of the classroom filed out soon after that, most ponies forming small groups in order to get the homework done quickly, then do whatever teens do when not busy.
Probably card games or something.
This just left the group of three (Morning, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom) to collect the pieces and reconvene.
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle approached Cheerilee’s desk wordlessly, and were quickly greeted by two more pages of homework for their respective study buddies.
Sweetie Belle just let out a soft sigh, taking her sheet and walking to the door for another very productive study session with Scootaloo. As she passed by Morning Glory, who was clinging to the wall helplessly, staring at her with big, eyes, she gave him a small nod as she left to do her own thing.
Apple Bloom approached him next, clapping him on the shoulder with a smile as she handed her paper over to him. “Knock ‘em dead, kid.” She then similarly left him out to dry as she left the building.
Morning continued to cling to the wall, his heart racing as he attempted to unlock latent invisibility powers, just like in one of his Japaneighs animes. Of course he couldn’t, but his ears perked up when he heard voices through the door.
It was very obviously Apple Bloom and Cardinal from the country twang and absolute dimness respectively. Morning couldn’t quite tell what they were chatting about, but he figured it was him by the way his ears were burning. Or maybe that was just his huge blush.
But he still stood there when the sound of conversation faded down to nothing, then turned to a set of hoofsteps trotting away. And yet he stayed frozen.
“You’re going to have to go see him eventually.” Came a voice from across the room. Cheerilee didn’t even look up from her desk as she acknowledged him, very used to dealing with the issues of teens while grading papers. “He’s waiting for you, and you know how stubborn he can be. And I won’t be letting you spend the night here again.”
All Morning could really do was let out a soft, defensive squeak at her words. And yet he knew she was right. Those desks were way too uncomfortable.
With another soft squeak, he resigned himself to his fate of spending time with a friend and crush. Truly a terrifying prospect. And yet it was all he could do.
He gave Cheerilee a dejected sigh, then a thankful nod as he braced himself. Then he opened the door to leave.
And was right away accosted by Cardinal.
The larger colt immediately jumped from his sitting position to greet his good friend with a grin, getting just a bit too close to him. This had the added benefit of blocking any of Morning’s exit routes.
“Hey dude! Did you get lost or something?” He grinned as he gestured back into the classroom. Morning opened his mouth, but was quickly stopped by Cardinal patting him on the shoulder. “Nah, I’m just kidding dude. So, Apple Bloom told me you’re gonna be helping me with, uh…” he paused to grab, then take a look at one of the papers Morning had with him. Upon looking, he gave a large blink and a head shake. “You’re gonna help with whatever this is.”
Morning too perused the page he was left, and was delighted to learn that it was just simple algebra that he could crank out in a few minutes. And then he looked back up at Cardinal to say something.
He was taken aback by the look of sheer confusion on Cardinal’s face as he looked over the sheet again.
“Why are there letters here? I thought this was math.”
This was going to be a very difficult job.
The two quickly embarked to Cardinal’s home for a bit of makeshift tutoring, as seemed to be the norm for Apple Bloom’s more regular sessions. It wasn’t a very long walk from the schoolhouse, though nothing was a very far walk in Ponyville. Even still, it was just a twoish minute walk filled with the smallest of small talk.
Mostly on Cardinal’s part, but Morning found a small groove for himself in the conversation between the other colt’s joyful statements.
By the end of the twoish minutes, both colts found themselves laughing and joking about with each other. They stood on the front stoop of Cardinal’s house, giggling and nudging each other while Cardinal moved to unlock and open his door.
And inside they went. The house was dark and quiet to the point of being eerie for Morning to walk into, but he felt safe enough as he followed his crush inwards. He tried his best to match Cardinal’s strangely brisk pace.
They took a turn down a close hallway before Morning could even make out most of the house, and then Cardinal ushered him to and through a door at the end of the hallway.
The room, obviously, was Cardinal’s. From the calming sky blue wallpaper to the numerous posters of the Wonderbolts, horrible bands, and wrestling covering said wallpaper. And Morning figured he could find a way in though that last one.
The rest of the room was surprisingly cleaner than Morning had expected. There was hardly any garbage strewn about the floor, or on his desk, under his bed, in his closet or anything.
Cardinal shrugged off his saddlebag and set it down beside his bed with strange precision. He then gestured for Morning to do the same. “Make yourself at home, dude.”
Morning just set his own right beside Cardinal’s, then awkwardly stood near the door while Cardinal moved over to his desk across the room.
The desk was about as clean as a desk that’s used only weekly could be. Most of the things were in order not because of strict organization, but due to complete underuse. Cardinal had to wipe it down of any dust before waving Morning over. “C’mon, let’s get this over with.” He said before plopping himself down in his desk chair, then gestured over to the stool beside him.
Morning moved as quickly as he could to not waste any more time. The stool forced him to sit a bit close to his friend, not that he was at all complaining.
The two began to focus on their homework in that moment, both attempting to work through the most they could do alone before asking for any help from the other.
Morning Glory breezed through most of the problems in minutes, probably due to a mixture of being naturally good at math and actually having paid attention to Cheerilee’s lessons. After about five minutes he’d gotten through most of the worksheet, though he had a few problems he was still questioning.
He turned to Cardinal to see how he was faring, and maybe get some assistance on one of the ones he was having a spot of trouble with.
And yet all he saw was a confused Cardinal scratching the back of his head. He looked over to Morning just a bit pathetically, his eyes shining with the hope that, much like Apple Bloom, his friend would teach him the material he was too tired to learn in class.
“I don’t get how to get these letters.” Cardinal said as he gestured to the second set of problems. He then poked a hoof at the first, much easier set. “They just gave me the numbers to the letters for this one, so that was real easy. But now I’ve got the answer but gotta find the letters?” He finished off his questioning by returning to scratching his head.
It took Morning Glory a moment to realize that this wasn’t just an extended bit. But, seeing the truth in his friend’s eyes, he knew that he was going to have to strap on his teaching hat and just learn that boy some maths.
He took a deep breath, readying himself for teaching, then poked a hoof at the first problem: 6=a/4+2. He’d already solved it, so he could definitely do this.
Morning looked up to Cardinal with the slightest bit of confidence. “So, basically all you’ve gotta do is, uh…” he blinked, then looked over to his page to get a semblance of what to do. He then realized that, despite knowing how to do the maths, he completely blanked on how to explain it. He continued to stammer and stutter about variables and multiplication, but he saw it wasn’t really convincing Cardinal.
Quickly running out of words to explain math to a horse, Morning gave a short huff as he slid his page over right next to his friend’s, allowing him to just see the answers. “I’m not a very good teacher.” He said softly, and with a small frown.
Cardinal, however, found his eyes lighting up with both realization and joy that he wouldn’t have to learn much today. He could just copy numbers, then just focus on training and dealing with parents later.
Instead of starting the copying right then and there, Cardinal opted to turn to face Morning Glory with a huge grin. He didn’t hesitate to open his arms widely at his friend, then wrapped them as tightly as he could around him.
Morning let out a soft little squeak as he was forcibly wrapped in his friend’s warm embrace, not that he could find the words or need to complain at all. Cardinal even extended his wings, also wrapping them around the smaller Earth Pony in some kind of superhug.
It was very warm, but the warmest thing in the huggle seemed to be Morning's face, now a brighter shade of red than ever before and hot enough to melt snow. And yet he couldn’t do much but grin widely and lean ever so slightly against Cardinal’s chest floof.
Cardinal pulled him ever so closer to his chest with a slightly tightened hug. “Thank you so much, dude. You don’t know how much I needed this today!” He then let the embrace linger for another few moments.
Just enough moments for Morning to gently wrap his hooves around Cardinal as well. Mostly because it would have been weird not to, but also because the colt was a big ball of warmth and fluff.
And yet, it only lasted for a moment. Cardinal pulled back from the hug almost immediately, either ignoring or just not noticing Morning’s own hug as he broke it. He just turned back to his work and began copying.
Then Cardinal froze in his seat, his ears standing as tall as they could get and swiveling about to track a nigh imperceptible sound. Listening in closely as well, Morning very faintly heard the sound of the front door being shut.
He then jumped a bit upon hearing the much closer sound of Cardinal letting out a sigh. Looking over to see him, he was somewhat shocked to see a mournful frown on his friend’s face.
Noticing his smaller companion’s surprised expression through the corner of his eye, Cardinal forced a grin. In a very forced manner. “Listen,” he said a great deal quieter than he was before, and with just a bit of added quake to his voice, “My parents are sort of home now and I’m not exactly supposed to have colts I like over yet so…”
He actually hesitated, at a loss for words for once. Instead, he just gently gestured to the large window slightly to his left. He then gave a very apologetic look.
“I… can’t really let them see you leaving through the front door either.” The large colt squeaked out softly before turning his head away from Morning. “Sorry.”
Hearing approaching voiced from down the hallway, Morning knew that he was running short on time to decide. He quickly stood up from the stood up from the stool and approached the window. Cardinal joined him just as quickly, moving past him to open the window.
Cardinal then gave his friend a short, soft hug and another apologetic look, though slightly disarmed by a gentle smile. “I really hate to kick you out like this. I’ll work on copying after I’m done training, and I’ll get it back to you tomorrow. Now then:” He gestured to the window. “After you.”
Morning Glory nodded softly, gently crawling through the window that strangely didn’t seem to have a screen. He briefly contemplated returning the tiny hug he was given, but he reconsidered as he heard the voices outside getting closer and closer still.
He managed to duck out just as the door opened, leaving Cardinal to fend for himself when to came to lying as to why he was talking to himself and poking his head out of his window.
Morning himself, however, was left with just one question to follow him on his way home:
Just what did Cardinal mean when he said ‘colts he likes’?