I couldn't believe it, I thought to myself as I walked through the hallway to my next class. Charlie has a crush on me! Wait, Jackie never specifically said "crush." What if I accidentally say he does and he gets mad at me for thinking that way? Or even worse, what if he does like me? No one has ever liked me like that, save for that weirdo in 5th Grade. But this is much worse? What if he wants something serious? I've never had anyone like me like that, let alone a serious relationshi-!
I accidentally crash into somebody, and their papers go everywhere. I said quickly, "Oh, I'm so sorry! Let me just help you with tho-!" We both reached over for the exact same paper. He was a brunette, and he was wearing brown uniform sweater-vest over a yellow top. Somehow, Charlie had found me.
"Hey," he greeted, no knowledge of what I had just discovered last class. "Mary, where are you going in such a hurry?"
"Well, I-!" I couldn't just blow off what I heard. I needed to tell him and get the truth out; if he liked me or not. I fearlessly asked, "I'm just nervous because I heard that you like me. It's just a rumor, but I wanted to know if it's true." He stared at me for what seemed like forever, but it was only a moment of silence. Knowing he couldn't get out of not answering, he sighed, "It's true; I like you. I…I don't blush or get nervous like most guys are around their crushes; it's who I am."
"Well, I must admit, you did a good job of hiding it, until Jackie told me how you were obsessing over me at lunch!"
"Yeah, I was. Joey seemed a bit concerned by that. Did…Jackie actually tell you about my crush? Because I thought I covered my tracks pretty well."
"No, I just suspected. Just…the way she said it…it gave me a feeling." We both laughed, but Charlie turned to a nearby clock and stated, "Well…we should be heading to class." I ran past him, but he shouted, "Wait! Before I go," I turned around. "There's something I need to ask you."
"Shoot." I don't know whether I was telling him to do so or I was mad at myself for not getting out of it.
"Would you…like to go out on a date sometime?" There was something desperately in me that wanted to say "no," but I knew I would break his heart if I did say it. I sighed a little, but I answered, "Sure, why not?" He smiled, and replied, "I'll pick you up on Friday at eight. Sound good?"
I nodded, and he went off to his next class. I did as well, but for the rest of the day, I was distracted. I had never been on a date, nor often gone out with friends. I needed to figure out what I should do, or what he wanted to do. Nothing too bad, I hope. I went to dinner and bed with a lot hanging on my shoulders. I barely spoke to Jackie, which probably made her more suspicious than ever. I went to bed with the feeling of regret hanging over my head, and asking myself, Why did I have to fall in love?
Oh, why did you have to force me into love? Deception thought as she came to the wooded area of a small town called Raini Valley. Well, it seemed to be half woods, half random-stumps. She was in a human disguise. Her wavy white hair was still the same, her eyes as well. Her chaotic clothes she changed into were replaced with a collared blue blouse, a brown jacket, and a brown skirt. Hopefully, the guy Discord had "set her up with" would not notice the fact that her ears were pointy.
She sighed, and decided to do what he wanted her to do. After all, he was family. She mustered up as many deceit and lies she could to cover her tracks. Now, she had to find the man who fate (or rather, Discord) had set her up with. She noticed a tall man, skinny in build, and was wearing a hat to protect his black hair from the hot sun. His clothes, long pants, boots, and a vest, were all a bluish-grey. His shirt, however, was white. She gasped, and thought, you picked the best for me, brother.
She looked at him, and ran over to him, trying to look as desperate as possible. He spotted her, and stopped chopping down the tree he was chopping. As soon as she ran to his side, he asked, "What's wrong?" She panted a few times and said with desperation, "Discord destroyed my house! I heard you can help me! You…can, right?"
"Of course!" he laughed. "I've built a few houses here and there." He set down the axe, and put his work gloves down. He began to walk, and Deception followed. He explained, "You see, ever since Discord's reign began a while back, I started to notice these trees kept springing up around the area. Later, ponies needed houses because Discord kept doing things to them, and I decided, 'Yeah, sure.' It is my job to help with the trees after all. But…Discord cursed them. They were really stubborn, but I finally got my way with them. Then, people told me that the logs were growing new limbs and choking people. So, I used some pest spray on them and they stopped moving around after that. Strange, huh?"
"Oh, yeah." She knew she was going to have to tell her brother about that. "Um, don't mind me for asking, but what's your name? I only dashed here for help because I know of where you are, not who you are."
"My name is Beanpole. And yours?" Oh, no. He asked for a name, and she knew she couldn't give her real one. "Deception" would arouse suspicion, because it was definitely not a pony name. But, deception was her specialty, and she would use it. She replied, "My name is Coffee Cream."
"Oh, that's great. My house is right up on the hill there." He pointed, and she saw a small log cabin on a hill as stated before. "You can live with me and my girlfriend until we can find a place for you to…stay?" He had turned back to look for her, but she was gone. He shrugged it off, and headed up to the cabin, hoping she would come by later. Deception walked through the trees until she came to a spot far away from anypony who could possibly see her. She took out a pocket watch and hit the set time knob. All of time ceased for just a moment.
"What seems to be the problem?" Discord flashed in to stare at his disguised sister. She questioned, "'Problem'? The problem is that you never told me that this pony had a girlfriend! Now what are we going to do?"
"I'm not sure. I was only in this to watch you and Beanpole…" He clicked with his tongue and motioned with his hands to show what he meant.
"Oh, Discord! Come on! Can't you corrupt this girlfriend so I can get Beanpole to trust in me?" He sighed, "Alright, I'll do this much. But after that, it's all up to you to obtain your hubbie." Discord flashed out and time started back up again. Deception walked up the hill to Beanpole's cottage, hoping he could get him to come back outside so Discord could do what was needed. She opened the door of the cabin to see Beanpole, and the aforementioned girlfriend, a woman with pink hair and wearing a mulberry dress.
"Oh, hi, Coffee," Beanpole greeted Deception again. He pointed to the woman. "This is my girlfriend, Sugar Plum." The pink-haired woman waved at Deception and looked to the fire. Deception noticed that it was down to a few dying embers. Sugar stated, "Beanie, the fire's getting low. Can you go chop some more wood?" He nodded, and the woman in disguise saw this as a perfect opportunity for her brother to come in.
"Let me help," Deception said to Beanpole. "I have some time chopping wood with my uncle." The man smiled, and nodded, as if to say "yes." The two headed out, leaving Sugar Plum to herself once again. Discord knew his sister would've wanted him to use this time, so he did. He flashed into the room, making Sugar Plum squeal, "Eep! It's Discord!"
"Yes, it's very sad your boyfriend has left you….but not that sad."
"What do you mean?" Despite her fear, her curiosity got the best of her.
"Well, he only let you in to get you to be with him. He's just a player. I've seen him do it before, many times in the last five hundred years." Her mind swarmed with visions of what would come. She saw her boyfriend, toying with her emotions, but she never realized it was Discord actually doing it. Her lovely colors all grayed and her anger burning, the dragonequis flashed out.
Beanpole and Deception came back soon enough, and Beanpole, seeing Sugar curled up on the floor asked her, "Sugar Plum? Are you okay?" He tried to stretch out a hand to help her, but she got up and snarled, "Get away from me."
"Sugar Plum? Are you alright?" She headed towards the door and yelled, "I know what you're up to! You're going to break my heart, just like you did with the others!"
"What others?" She let out a roar of rage through her teeth, then went out and slammed the door on him. Beanpole looked heartbroken, and Deception soothed him, "It's going to be okay. Don't worry, I've helped people with break-ups before." Little did he know, she was talking about helping herself.
The next few days went by slowly. Waiting for the end of the week at the start of the week is…not the best way to begin it. And I could see throughout the week that Jackie's suspicions were growing. It was Friday afternoon before she confronted me about it, and she came into the dorm, asking, "Okay, what's going on between you and Charlie?"
"What do you mean?" Okay, I wasn't good at playing this off. I sighed, "Alright, I confronted Charlie about what you told me and asked him if he liked me. He did, and….he asked me out on a date for tonight."
"And you knew you couldn't turn him down because he's a friend, so you said yes." I nodded; she knew me well. Jackie continued, "Well, since I'm guessing this is your first date, we better get you prepared for this."
"P-prepared?" She went over to the dresser at the end of the bunk beds and took out some outfits. She explained as she laid out outfits, "Don't pick anything too casual; you don't know where he'll be taking you. But also don't dress too formal either; it could be a drive-thru for all I know. Don't pick anything too flirty; you don't want to give yourself away."
"Wow." I was impressed by how much she knew, and she was a month younger than me! "Where did you get all that?"
"Believe it or not, my brother told me what he knew from the girls he's been in relationships with." We both laughed, and began to pick out outfits. Jackie stated, "If we're going to make you over for your date, you are going to need to take down that mop of hair."
"But…I like my hair up." My hair was piled up in a nice up-do as always. Jackie came closer to my hair. We had a little argument, in which she was able to pull out a few pins here and there, making my hair fall. She gaped, "Wow."
"What? Does it look bad?"
"No, it just looks….like I've never seen it down before."
"That's because you haven't." Jackie helped me pick out an outfit, a pink blouse with a hot pink skirt. She also helped me with my makeup. When we were done, she stated, "It's only 7:15. Maybe you should take a nap."
"Why? Won't that smear up my makeup?"
"Yes, but you don't want your narcolepsy to kick in while you're on your date, do you?" I nodded, and I lay back down on the bed, putting my head between two pillows so I wouldn't be woken up.
"Has it reached the southern fields yet?"
"Just about." Caramel and Applejack raced to the field, hoping what Discord had done hadn't reached them yet. The couple came and looked in horror as trees to their left and right started to wilt up and die. AJ asked, "What is Discord doing?"
"He's trying to kill off all of the trees, to limit our food supply!"
"What about the apples we picked before they started wiltin'?"
"Um…" Caramel turned to the barrels he had picked when the sun was up. They were fine, but the ones he had picked once the trees started to wilt were rotting away. "The bushels from before are fine, but…" The brunette had reached over to place a hand on the tan blonde's shoulder, but found her not there. He saw her running towards one tree, in the middle of all the others, and desperately crying, "Please don't wilt, please don't wilt, please don't wilt…."
Fortunately, because it was not an apple tree, it was spared from Discord's spell. Caramel walked to her, and saw her curled up in a ball at the base of the tree, sobbing. He had never seen the strong, brave, independent mare like this, but then again, nothing like this had ever happened. He decided to try his best to comfort her; he wrapped his arms around the sobbing woman and said, "It's going to be alright. Even if we don't make it out of this with our friends and family, we'll still have eachother…"
