Artist's Block

by Hot Dog Jones

Chapter 4 - Girls

I awoke abruptly. Something – or, somepony – was poking me in the face. “Scootaloo,” I thought, “I am gonna kill you.” I laughed and opened my eyes. Sure enough, it was Scootaloo.

“Mornin, Sketchy,” she said with a giggle.

Sketchy? The only pony who ever called me that was… I squinted my eyes to see Scootaloo holding an envelope in her hooves. I quickly grabbed my glasses. Sure enough, the envelope had “Sketchy” written on it. Facehoof.

“You gonna gimmie that letter or what?” I said to Scootaloo, who was still holding the bright yellow envelope in her hands. “Also, how did you even get it?”

“Your mom found it in the mail this morning and figured she should bring it over,” Scootaloo replied, “So who’s it from, huh? Why does it say Sketchy instead of Sketch?”

“It’s.. A bit of a long story,” I explained.

Scootaloo rolled her eyes and handed me the letter. It didn’t look like she opened it, which was a relief. I carefully parted the envelope and took out the letter inside.

“Dearest Sketchy,

I miss you a lot as well. Not a day goes by where I don’t think about you. I hope that your new life in Ponyville is great – Don’t let me not being there be a damper on it for you. Go make friends, go work, go live. Just remember that I’m by your side through everything, because we share a bond that’s deeper than friendship, and deeper than blood.

We share love.

Starshine”

My stomach leaped when I saw the kiss mark in the corner. It was almost like being back home again. I re-read the letter, and I felt a tear go down my cheek after the last lines.

“Hey, Mr. Emotional!”

I turned my head to see Scootaloo staring at me. “What’s got you all worked up, huh?” she said to me, stifling a laugh.

”Oh, it’s nothing, don’t worry about it,” I said back, trying to throw her off.

“Then how about I see that letter, huh?” she shot back with a devilish grin.

“What? No!” I said, pulling it away from her.

“Guess I’ll just have to take it then,” she said with a determined look. Ulp. She chased me around the room, constantly trying to nab at the letter.

“Please, Scootaloo, this letter’s important to me!” I said, running out of breath.

“Not stopping until you tell me!” she responded. She was quite determined, wasn’t she?

Eventually I ran out of breath, somehow having a smaller stamina than the filly chasing me. I tripped over my sleeping bag and fell to the ground. She took this opportunity to pin me, holding me down on the cold floor. I froze with letter hidden beneath me and Scootaloo on top of me. To make matters worse, she was staring me straight in the eyes, making me blush. This filly was surprisingly strong.

“Scoots, chances are you’re not going to want to read this,” I said in protest.

“Oh, really? Why, huh? What’re you hiding, Sketchy?” she said back with an evil grin. I felt more pressure as she leaned in closer. Our faces were only a few inches away now, and I could feel her hot breath on my muzzle.

“Sketch, Scootaloo, are you ok? I heard- Oh my.”

We both looked over to see Fluttershy at the stairs. There was a bit of a silence, and I was clearly blushing the whole time.

Scootaloo quickly got off me- I could see she was blushing too. There was a long silence before she finally said, "W-We should probably get ready for s-school, right, Sketch?"

"Uh.. Yeah. Let's, uh, do that."

Aaaaawkward.

Soon after, Scootaloo and I were out the door to go to school. There was nothing but silence as we walked, and I wanted to say something, anything to break it, but nothing came to mind. We simply avoided eachother's gaze and blushed uncontrollably. I tried my best to regain my composure as I walked into the schoolhouse. Scootaloo went to her seat, while Cheerilee told me to stand up front for now. Glad that’s over.

“Class,” Miss Cheerilee said, “This is our new student, Sketch. Mind telling us a little bit about yourself?”

“Well, I’m from Manehattan, so I’m used to city life, but I’m sure I’ll like it here just fine. My only real interest is art, so, if you like that I'll get along with you fine,” I said with a chuckle.

“Very good, Sketch. Your seat is over there, right behind Applebloom,” Cheerilee said, pointing to an empty desk near the back of the room. I trotted over to my desk. I was glad I got one in the back, it gave me an opportunity to draw during class (which I had a bad habit of doing.)

Some time later, Applebloom passed me a note. It read: “You look a little beat up. What were you guys doing when I left?”

I flipped it over and wrote, “It’s hard to explain, we had a bit of a mail mishap.” As I passed the note up, the inevitable happened.

“Sketch! Applebloom! Are you passing notes back there?” Oh horseapples. Miss Cheerilee saw us. “I’d like both of you to stay after class.” I felt my face grow hot as the other students laughed. Detention on the first day. Way to screw up, Sketch.

***

After the class had left, me and Applebloom stepped up to Cheerilee's desk shamefully.

“Now, you two,” miss Cheerilee said, looking at us, “You know that note passing distracts you from the lesson?” We nodded. “Do you promise never to do it again?” We nodded again. “Good. Now, as punishment, you two get to wash the school windows. I’ll be in here grading, if you need me. You can get all your supplies from the janitor’s closet,” Cheerilee concluded. Applebloom and I went to get the supplies, heads hung.

***

“So what really did happen with you two?” Applebloom said as we went outside, “Somethin’ I should know about?”

“Oh, that. It’s nothing, just I got a letter, she wanted to read it, I didn’t let her, she chased me, etc, etc,” I responded.

“Why would ya’ not let her read it?”

“It’s from someone back home, and they’re really important to me.. You guys wouldn’t really understand.”

"..Sketch, is there somethin' we should know about yer' past? I mean, it came up a few times last night and-"

"Don't worry about my past, Applebloom. There's nothing odd about it, it's just.." I paused halfway through wiping down the window. I had to stop thinking about Manehattan.

"It's okay, Sketch. You can tell me anythin'. I won't tell the other girls or anyone else if you don't want me to." I looked over at Applebloom, who smiled sincerely.

I stayed silent for a bit, then finally muttered, "..It's a mare."

"Whut?"

"I knew a girl back home. We were.. a bit more than friends, if you know what I mean.. I just.. Miss her."

"..I can understand that, Sketch. Maybe you would feel better if you started lookin' for a new marefriend," she said, her voice taking on a more cheery tone.

I sighed and said, "I'm not really.. good around mares though. I can't do any of those things real stallions do. I'm not dreamy, I can't talk to girls, hell, I can't even dance."

"Y'all can't dance?"

"Nope.. It's like I've got four left hooves."

"It ain't that hard! C'mon, lemme show ya.

I backed away. "Wait, what? No!"

"C'mon, Sketch? You don't wanna dance with me?" she said seductively.

She kept following me as I backed up, and I unfortunately tripped on a rock behind me, kicking down Applebloom on top of me. I was about to push her off, when suddenly..

“How’re you ponies doing on the window washing?” we heard Cheerilee say, coming outside. “Oh.. my.” She stared for a moment, then came to her senses. “That is, just..” she continued, “Well, it’s certainly very cute,” She was clearly giggling to herself. “Why didn’t you just tell me Applebloom was your special somepony?”

“Oh no, she’s not my-“ I was stopped by Applebloom covering my mouth.

“Oh yes, miss Cheerilee! That's.. actually what the note was about.” she said with a fake blush. What is she up to?

“Oh, well if that’s what it was all about, I totally understand. Why, when I was your age, I had someone too. Please, don’t let me get in the way, carry on!” Cheerilee said, backing into the hall.

We got up hastily, and I pushed her away. When Cheerilee was well out of earshot, I said, "What the hay was that all about, Applebloom?!"

"I got you out of detention early, silly. Now c'mon, let's go."

“Wait, is that all that was? A plot to get out of detention?” I shot back.

"Maybe the leaving was just a plus," she said with a wink. She turned and left.

And I just stood there, mouth open.

Comments

[T-Sparkles]

I really enjoyed this! Very cute, I'll be tracking it!

[FauxFox]

Lul.
That is all.