25.
In May is when Trotsworth usually reached its warmest temperatures of the year. From May into July, the sun shines almost all day with the occasional rainfall that only lasts for a few minutes, and temperatures only run into the low eighties at most. After May, however, the breezes of other towns are pushed out with the summer weather, all of which seem to converge on Trotsworth, which makes for a decently warm but often windy summer.
Redheart enjoyed Trotsworth for that reason. Aside from the dreary rainstorms and the somewhat vicious thunderstorms, it was much cooler and more comfortable than Ponyville. No serious heat, but no freezing temperatures either, and no humidity that would make her coat sticky and impossible to clean. Her mother in particular always booked week-long vacations there during the summer, staying at a grand hotel called the Royale in the square just to get out of the heat. By the time her fourth and final year was coming to an end, with graduation coming at the end of the month, Trotsworth was like a second home to her.
She was thankful that she and Caramel lived in the same town. It meant that leaving the Academy did not come with meeting her lover. Caramel had told her how he would take her out to dinner at one of the fancier restaurants in Ponyville to celebrate her graduation. It was something that Redheart looked forward to.
She was walking across the Academy grounds right now, relishing the sunlight that felt like it was celebrating the end of the year with her. Caramel had asked her to come over to ask her something, but with her current spirits, she felt it would be nearly impossible to let anything bring her down.
Redheart approached the door of the dorm Caramel shared with the three other stallions and knocked on the door. She only had to wait a moment before the light blue unicorn opened the door for her.
“You’re Caramel’s lover, aren’t you?” he asked. “Miss Redheart?”
Redheart nodded. “Hello, Neon Lights. Is Caramel in? He said he wanted to talk to me.”
“Yeah. He’s in his room. Sounded like he was with someone, but I just got here a few minutes ago and Caramel’s door was shut. I’m not about to go in there, so you want something to drink?”
“Non-alcoholic cider, if you have any.”
“I’m sure we do somewhere. Here, come on in and sit on the couch and I’ll get you one. I’m sure Caramel won’t be long.”
Redheart walked in and sat down on the couch that was in the center of the guy’s dormitory living room. The couch stood next to a table that had a lot of drink glass stains on it but a surprising lack of dishes strewn about. The kitchen was nearly the same and the shower room even looked clean from Redheart’s vantage point in the living room; either they actually lived clean or they had the sense to clean up from the previous night.
There was the sound of a bottle being cracked open, then Neon Lights was in the living room with a bottle of non-alcoholic cider and a bottle of what looked like a weak beer. “There you go,” he said, holding out the cider with his magic. “Had a couple of non-alcoholics in the fridge.” He waited until Redheart had taken it before releasing it. “I’m gonna be in my room. If you need anything, you can knock and I’ll see what I can do.” He waved a hoof before heading back into one of the rooms across from Caramel’s and shutting the door.
The minute Neon Lights shut his bedroom door, it felt like the apartment lapsed into complete silence. Even with the knowledge of Neon in the dorm, it just felt empty; even Caramel’s bedroom didn’t have any noise coming from it. Which was strange, Redheart thought, if someone was in there with him. Still, Redheart told herself it wouldn’t be long.
As time passed, Redheart became impatient. There was the sound of a phone ringing from Neon Light’s room, but otherwise things remained silent. The ringing stopped and it went back to ear-grating silence again. After a while, Neon Lights left his bedroom.
“Hey, Redheart, I gotta go in to work right now,” he said. “So, I guess so the admins don’t get too mad, you should leave in a few minutes if Caramel doesn’t come out. They can get kind of irritated about mares hanging around the stallions’ dormitories for too long on their own.”
Redheart nodded. “Thanks for the information. I won’t be staying around too much longer.”
Neon Lights nodded. “See you around, Redheart.” He grabbed a set of keys from a small table near the door and left.
The dorm was quiet for a long time. Redheart was getting antsy and wondered what was going on and what was taking Caramel a long time.
Then she heard it.
It was a small noise from the other side of Caramel’s door. At first, Redheart thought it was a squeak like from a mouse and started looking around for any crawling around on the floor. But then the noise came again, and this time it was a little more distinct. It sounded like a high giggle. A high feminine giggle.
The noise intrigued Redheart. She walked over to the door as silently as she could and pressed her ear to it. There were two different voices coming from the other side, though they were muffled and she couldn’t clearly make out anything they were saying. She did hear a lot of other noises, though; moaning, creaking, panting, and some more giggling.
Redheart put up a hoof and knocked five times on the door, then pressed up her ear to the door again. The noises had stopped. The inside was silent for a while before there was the soft thud of someone hitting the floor. Then came footsteps, at which Redheart put her head up so it wouldn’t look like she had been listening in.
The door opened slowly. Caramel was standing there with a very concerned look on his face. For a while, the two sat there staring at each other, Redheart never really getting a good look into the dorm since Caramel’s body seemed to block it.
Redheart opened her mouth to say something to Caramel, but the stallion had his lips to her mouth before she could even begin to ask. At first, Redheart treasured the kiss, but there was something missing from it that she had felt so many times in the months before. It was sad, it lacked his usual tenderness and gusto, as though it was forced. When he pulled away, Redheart could see a pleading in his eyes.
“Redheart…” he said, voice already protesting before the words were out of her mouth.
“Caramel,” Redheart said, voice shaking. “Please. Let me in.”
Caramel looked like he wanted to say something back, but instead he bowed his head and stepped backwards. Redheart walked into the room and looked around. While most of the room seemed undisturbed and in neat order, there was something amiss. Redheart turned her head around to see a young mare in Caramel’s bed; a young cream-colored mare with a slight green tint, green eyes, and a two-toned red mane, looking shocked and confused.
Redheart turned back to Caramel, who appeared rather shaken. “Who is she?”
“I could ask the same about you,” the rose-maned mare replied. “But… I think I have a clue.”
Redheart hadn’t turned to face the mare. “Caramel,” she said coldly, “please tell me what’s going on.”
Caramel gulped. “I… I meant to tell you at some point.”
“You mean you hadn’t broken up with her yet!?” the mare replied angrily, climbing out of the bed herself. “And to think you charmed me into coming back with you! And we… we… ugh!” She went up to Caramel and slapped him with a hoof, then gave a huff as she left the dorm; Redheart could hear the door slam behind her.
Caramel steadied himself and looked back to Redheart. “I… I don’t know what to say.”
“I don’t know what I’m expecting you to say, to be honest,” Redheart replied.
“I’m guessing sorry doesn’t cut it here?”
Redheart shook her head. “Nine months,” she said, voice slowly rising as she continued. “We’ve been together for nine months since we met on the train back to Ponyville at the beginning of the year. And we actually had sex for three of those months! So what was it, then? That wasn’t enough for you so you had to go and seduce another poor mare to fill the needs?”
“No.” Caramel looked like he could break down but wasn’t. “I just… I don’t know. We have a class together and I thought she was cute and one thing led to another and before I knew it I was asking if she wanted to have sex with me.”
“How long was that going on for?”
“A little over a month.”
“Managed to keep a nice façade there, didn’t you? You managed to keep it hidden very well not just from me, but from the both of us for a month. You know what? If it had been a single thing, you might have gained a little sympathy from me. But with how long you kept it up for… that makes you an even bigger son of a bitch than I originally thought you were turning out to be!”
“I don’t quite think I could ever understand how bad it was for you.”
“Then let me enlighten you. I have been out there in your dormitory’s main room for half an hour waiting for you to speak with you about the urgent message you have. I’m pretty sure of what the message was now, but I didn’t expect it to be delivered by another mare in your room!”
Caramel sighed. “There’s really nothing I can do?”
Redheart shook her head. “The next time I see a two-faced pony like you around again, it’ll be too soon.”
Redheart walked out of the dorm and walked back to her room. It wasn’t until the doors had closed that she fell on the bed and started crying. Surprisingly, it wasn’t from the breakup itself; young love never lasted that long anyways, she told herself. It was from how… humbly and sincerely Caramel had acted. Even when Redheart was angry with him, the stallion had merely taken the blows and never fought back…
The next month passed by like a blur. Redheart, as was expected, passed all her finals with high marks and left Trotsworth Academy with a three-point-seven grade point average and Bachelors of Science in nursing with a minor in chemistry. She attended her graduation but couldn’t match the other student’s urge to do so with her, especially after seeing Caramel alone in the stands. A few days later, Redheart packed her things with her mother’s help and was off home.
At home in Ponyville, Redheart first went home with her mother to drop off her things. She had unpacked her belongings and nailed up her diploma on the wall when she had the urge to head out and see if she could find a job.
The only place in Ponyville that she could work at to use her experience was Ponyville Hospital. She walked up to the front doors and found a sign saying ‘Applications Accepted for Registered Nurses’. She walked in and went up to a tan unicorn stallion with a parted mane sitting at the desk in the main lobby; he reminded her strangely of Caramel.
“Hello,” Redheart said. “I was wondering who I could ask for a job application.”
The stallion nodded. “You’ve come to the right stallion. I’m Doctor Stable, head physician here at Ponyville Hospital. I can get you an application. Now,” the stallion said as he started shuffling through papers, “you look pretty young. Do you mean you want an application for an internship?”
“I’ve already done it,” Redheart said as soon as Doctor Stable had finished speaking. “I had two years’ experience working inside a hospital while I went to Trotsworth Academy.”
The stallion originally looked at her with shock at how quickly she had responded to the question, then smiled. “Let’s see if we have an application here. Ah, yes, here it is.” He originally looked like he was going to give Redheart the papers, but pulled them back before Redheart could grab for them. “You said Trotsworth Academy, didn’t you? What was your GPA there?”
Redheart told him. “I also was told at Trotsworth Medical Center that if I was looking for a paying job I could go back at any time and they would hire me immediately.”
The stallion smiled again. “Here you are. Fill it out and bring it in as soon as you can. It’s been a while since I got someone so capable. I’m sure we could find a place for you here.”
For the first time in nearly a month, Redheart smiled.