“Hunty!”

“AGH!”

Every…friggin’…morning…

I groaned and rubbed my head. I need to put a carpet next to my bed or something, because hitting my head on hardwood isn’t pleasant. I opened one eye to see two iridescent blue ones staring back at me.

“Jenny…?” I mumbled quietly, removing my hand from my head and reaching up. But instead of smooth skin, my hand met soft fur. Wait a minute…

Both of my eyes flew open, and I was met with the sight of a quizzical pink face. Oh…

“Pinks…” I began slowly. “Why’d you make a habit of doing that?”

“Doing what, Hunty?” Pinkie’s cheerful voice inquired. She leaned in, her muzzle a hairs breadth away from my nose.

“This,” I said, mimicking her tone. And then I yelled her name at the top of my lungs.

“PINKIE!”

“WAH!”

Pinkie fell over onto her side next to me, startled. I looked over to her with a wide smirk on my face. Pinkie giggled for a moment before realization set in, and looked back at me.

“Oh....sorry,” she squeaked out, a sheepish smile on her face. I ruffled her mane and sat up.

“Eh, don’t worry about it,” I shrugged off. “Just be a bit more gentle about it next time.” I crossed to the window and flicked open a blind.

“Uh, Pinks?” I asked slowly while looking around. “What time is it?”

“Eleven forty-two and thirty eight seconds.” Pinkie answered happily.

“What?!” I exclaimed, twisting around and looking at the mare. She lying upside down on my bed, her forelegs curled in front of her.

“I said it’s eleve-”

“I know what you said!” I snapped. “Gah, I’m gonna be late!” I ran to the dresser, not bothering with a shower, and started pulling out clothes.

“Late for what?” Pinkie asked.

“For my job?” I asked sarcastically while throwing on a button down shirt. “You know, the one you got me? The one with the workplace one floor below us?”

Pinkie laughed and poked my leg with a hoof.

“Silly Hunty!” Pinkie exclaimed, still laughing. “It’s your day off today!”

I paused, balancing on one leg with the pants I had been pulling on.

“...My day off?” I repeated. Pinkie answered with a vigorous nod. I looked down at my half clothed lower half, then back up at Pinkie, then back down.

Eh, screw it.

“Well, as long as I’m up, I might as well hit the town,” I said with a sigh, putting on my pants and socks at a far slower pace.

“But what about the Crusaders?” Pinkie asked. I paused once again.

“What about them?” I responded as I slipped on my worn in sneakers, confused. I then started putting other clothes I’d thrown out of the dresser back in.

“Well, there’s Apple Bloom, who’s like a bite sized Applejack. Then there’s Sweetie Belle, she’s-

“Pinks, why did you bring them up?” I asked, cutting her off. I didn’t like interrupting her, but I knew that she would go on til’ the end of time if I didn’t. ‘Tis the way of the Pinkie.

“Um, Hunty?” Pinkie asked in a tone that suggested she thought I was being oblivious to something. “You’ve played with them every time you’ve had a-”

“Day off for the past month, crap!” I finished, the pieces clicking in my mind. How did I forget about this? “Pinks, I’ll talk to you later, I gotta go meet up with them.”

I rushed past my pink friend and began descending the stairs before a thought struck me.

“Hey, Pinks?” I called up.

“Yes?” Pinkie called back.

“Um...where are the Crusaders?”

“They should be right outside. I mean, they could have wandered off. They’ve been waiting out there for a few minutes now and...oh...I probably should have told you that, huh?”

I groaned and ran down the remainder of the stairs at full speed, fumbling with the buttons of my shirt as I did so. Agh, the damn thing is inside out! I unbuttoned the shirt and pulled it off just as I reached the bottom of the stairs, and oomf!

…collided with something solid, falling onto my back.

“Ow,” I heard a familiar deadpanned voice complain. Ah, shit, I ran into Maud. I should apologize...oh, but first things first.

“...Mrs. Cake?” I called out with my eyes closed.

“Er...yes Hunter?” I heard the mares voice call back from some distance away, presumably from the counter.

“Invest in a carpet,” I suggested. “Your floors are killing me.”

Not bothering to wait for a response...because how do you even respond to that, I looked up to see Maud standing over me, looking...um...well, I couldn’t tell you. My shirt was draping her face.

“Sorry for that, Maud,” I apologized. “Didn’t see where I was going.”

“I can’t see anything at all,” Maud retorted blankly, her voice muffled by my shirt. I snatched it off of her face and got to my feet, dusting off my pants as I straightened up.

“Either way, thanks for breaking my fall,” I joked lightly. Maud looked up at me, unamused, before her eyes grew a bit in size, and her gaze fell to the ground.

“Uh...Maud?” I asked, confused at her behavior. “What’s up?” I bet she just saw a rock on the ground or something.

“Your clothes are off,” Maud stated bluntly. I raised an eyebrow at her answer. Suddenly, I noticed the normally busy confectionary had grown awfully silent. I looked up from Maud to the customers spread across the room and...uh...they’re all staring at me.

I instinctively thought that the reaction from the room was to the fact that I was half dressed in an eatery, which is...kinda true. Sorta. I mean, had I been on Earth, that would have been completely true, but here I figure it’s because no one (sans Pinkie and Twilight) have ever seen me when I wasn’t fully clothed.

“Why don’t you guys take a picture?” I suggested, striking a pose. “It’ll last longer.” Everypony averted their eyes at that...well, all but two. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a mint colored mare pull a camera out from under the table. The cream colored earth pony sitting next to her pulled it away from her, saying something along the lines of ‘he was being sarcastic!’

“Seriously though,” I began, returning my gaze to Maud. “What’s the big deal? It’s just my shirt.” And with that, I pulled my arms through the sleeves of my shirt, making sure it was on the right way, and buttoned it up.

“You always wear clothes,” Maud said, the emotionless tone of her voice accentuated by her slow blinking.

“And you always wear that frock,” I pointed out.

“It’s different,” Maud replied. “Ponies don’t normally wear clothes. You’re the only human around here, so…oh…” She trailed off.

“What? What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Salt in the wound,” Maud replied cryptically.  

“‘Scuse me?”

“I didn’t mean to pour salt in the wound,” Maud answered, looking up at me with her big blue eyes. “About you being the only human here. Sorry.”

I smiled wistfully at her and bent down, looking into her face at eye level.

“No harm done,” I assured quietly, despite the small twinge of pain I’d felt from her words. It was a bit lonely here all by myself...but hey, Twilight has some totally-not-creepy spell that can turn herself into a human, so...there’s that. I might want to ask her about that....then again, I haven’t spoken to her since the Christmas party, when she….um…

I shook my head and straightened up. That’s the last thing I want on my mind. Wait a minute...what’s the first thing on my mind? The hell was I doing?

“Hunty!”

“AGH!”

“PINKIE!”

“WAH!”

“Blah blah blah Crusaders!”

“Blah blah where?!”

“Blah outside!”

“Blah?!”

“Blah!”

…

Shit!

“Crap, I gotta go!” I pulled my arms through my shirt and buttoned it up, leaving the top one open. “See ya, Pebbles!”

“Pebbles?” I heard Maud’s voice call out as I ran towards the door.

“It’s a nickname!” I called back over my shoulder. I made it to the door and turned around. “Whatcha think?”

“It needs work.” Maud said with a small smile. I smiled back at her unexpected reply. I’d figured she’d just shoot the idea of a nickname down, but apparently not.

“Got it!” I exclaimed happily, turning around to exit...and promptly hitting my head on the wooden door frame. I flailed backwards for a moment, caught off guard, then fell onto the floor, hitting my head...again.

“Gah! Why is it always the head?!”

“Thanks, Mrs. Cake!” I shouted as I exited the confectionery.

I really didn’t think I needed the bandage, but Mrs. Cake insisted. Great. Now I gotta walk around with this friggin’ thing wrapped around my head…

...Wait, what was I doing?

Ah, shit.

I looked around, trying to find three specific little balls of chaos, but couldn’t seem to find them anywh-

“Hey, Hunter! Neat head-scarf!”

The familiar high pitched squeal had come from behind me...and above me.

“...I swear to God,” I began loudly, “if I turn around, and you three are on the roof, about to do something dangerous, I am going to have to do something drastic.”

There was a long silence.

“...Who’s God?”

I whipped around, and was privy to a sight that...uh...truthfully, I didn’t even know what the hell I was looking at.

Scooter was on her trademark scooter, and Belle and Apple Bud were duct-taped to the handles. The scooter was balanced on the very tip of the gingerbread roof on the left side of the building. A small wooden ramp was built on the edge of the roof; a rickety one that would probably fall apart if I blew on it.

I can’t even fathom what cutie mark this is supposed to earn them. Is there an early grave cutie mark? Although I suppose one can’t appear post mortem...but then again, what if-

Forget it. I’ll give myself a headache over it later.

“Alright, you got me.” I called up to them. “I seriously have no idea what you’re trying to accomplish.” I saw Apple Bud’s mouth open to answer, but I held a hand up.

“And I don’t want to hear it. My head hurts enough as it is. Now climb down from there, and we’ll do something fun, alright?”

“Okay!” Apple Bud called out. “But, uh, we got a lil’ problem.”

“Kind of a big problem,” Scooter chimed in.

“What?” I asked with exasperation.

“...How’re we supposed to get down?”

I dragged my hand down my face.

“This is going to be a long day, isn’t it?”

As I walked through Ponyville with three fillies in tow, covered in splinters and bruises, I confirmed to myself that yes, this was most likely going to be a very, very long day.

“How were we supposed to know not to build the ramp out of balsa wood?” Belle complained from on my right shoulder.

“I don’t suppose it would have been too much trouble to just ask the stallion at the arts and crafts store?” I deadpanned back. “I could have lived my whole life without a stunt ramp collapsing onto me, you know.”

“Ya didn’t have to stand under it,” Apple Bud mumbled from my left shoulder.

“And you didn’t have to build it with rusty nails,” I retorted, rubbing the section of bandage I’d removed from my head and placed on the one of the many scratches I’d incurred from today’s incidents. “Now I have to worry about getting tetanus.”

“What’s a tetanus?” Scooter said from the ground. I looked down at her, mildly surprised that she’d spoken to me. Ever since I was decked in the face with a snowball and she ran off, she hadn’t really been keen on conversing.

“Horrible,” I answered with a chuckle. “Don’t worry about it.”

Scooter shrugged and kept walking along. She’d opted to walk alongside us instead of hopping on my head. Probably because the bandage around it may have discouraged her from putting any unnecessary pressure on it. At least she’s considerate.

“So...what do you girls wanna do?” I looked back and forth between Apple Bud and Belle, then down to Scooter.

“Ah kinda thought you had somethin’ in mind,” Apple Bud said. Belle and Scooter nodded their heads in assent.

“Well, what did you guys want to try to get your cutie marks in today?” I asked. Belle pulled a small notepad out of...uh...hammerspace...flipped it open, and began to read off the list.

“Cutie Mark Crusader Acrobats?”

“Not happening.”

“Cutie Mark Crusader Deep Sea Divers?”

“No to that.”

“Cutie Mark Crusader Skydivers?

“Nope.”

“Cutie Mark Crusader Forensic Scientists?”

“Uh...I’m not sure what that is, but it doesn’t sound pleasant. You know what, forget the list. I’ll just think of something.”

Belle shrugged and put the notepad back into what I assumed was an infinite realm of everything and nothing, only accessible to those without opposable thumbs.

Okay, so, a game to play with the Crusaders...hm…what can we do that would be completely risk free...

I snapped my fingers, eliciting an odd look from the Crusaders. Guess it’s not a common thing to do around these parts.

“What about Cutie Mark Crusader Wrestlers?” I suggested.

“Wrestlers?” Scooter repeated.

“Yeah. If you girls wrestle against me, none of you would be in danger,” I said confidently. The girls glanced at each other.

“Why do you say that?” Belle asked.

I resisted the urge to say, ‘Because I’ll take it easy on you’ because I felt that would turn them off to the idea.

“I’m a terrible wrestler!” I declared. That got a quick giggle out of them all. We walked off the main road and into an empty lot, where we couldn’t disturb anypony just going about their day. I crouched down, letting Apple Bud and Belle off of my shoulders, and stepped back a bit.

“Alright.” I stretched my arms and swiveled my neck, granting a few satisfying pops. “So the goal of wrestling is to knock the other person down, and keep them down for ten seconds…” I paused. “Or maybe that’s not it at all, I’m not that familiar with the rules, but the point is that I want you girls to try to pin me down. Oh, and no hitting, just pushing.” I wasn’t particularly afraid of them, but I also wasn’t keen on being bucked in the shin. Hooves hurt, man. “Who’s up first?”

“Oh, me, mememe!” Apple Bud belted out, zipping up and giving me a confident smile. Slightly less confidently when she noticed just how dwarfed she was by me. Gulping nervously, she rushed up to me, put her forelegs against my legs, and pushed with all of her might.

It was both sad and adorable. This went on for a couple minutes, her pushing against my leg in a futile attempt to knock me over, before I decided to cut her efforts short.

“Apple Bud…”

“Gimme a minute, Ah got this!”

“This is embarrassing. For both of us.”

“Ah think it budged!”

I lifted my leg into the air, taking Apple Bud with it. I hopped over to the rest of the Crusaders, tilted my leg, and dropped her gently onto the ground. She looked excitedly at her flank, and to her severe disappointment, saw no butt tattoo.

“Aww….” she grumbled, kicking her hoof against the ground. I had to bite back a chuckle.

“Good effort,” I said, ruffling her mane. I stepped back and put my hands on my hips. “Who’s up next?”

Belle stepped up, looking a bit daunted but still putting on a brave face.

“You’re going down, Hunter...uh…”

“What?”

“I can’t think of a clever rhyme.”

“...Just try to knock me over.”

The very tip of her horn began to glow light green, and the same magical field surrounded my left leg, giving me a slight tickling sensation. I frowned; I hadn’t thought about the possibility of them trying to do magic.

Turns out it didn’t matter, because she could barely press my pants against my legs, despite how obvious it was that she was putting her all into this spell.

I didn’t feel like having the old back and forth with her like I had with Apple Bud, so I just looked to Scooter.

“What about you Scooter?” I asked. She appeared to be in deep thought for a moment before turning to Belle.

“Sweetie Belle!”

“Urg...w-what!”

“Quit it with the magic! I got an idea!”

Sweetie Belle’s magic dissipated, and she begrudgingly walked over to her friends. I turned around, looking at my surroundings.

You know, it’s pretty crazy to think that I’m actually in a place like this. I mean, of course it is, but sometimes you just have to stop and think about it. I-

“Now!”

I was suddenly broke out of my existential contemplations when three balls of concentrated adorableness and uncontrollable energy tackled the back of my leg, catching me off guard and causing me to fall on my ass.

I didn’t have long to recover. Belle jumped on my left arm, Apple Bud jumped on my left, and Scooter crawled onto my chest.

And then they started to count down from ten.

“No!” I yelled with feigned agony, pretending to try to struggle. “I will never be defeated! Your conniving and planning is no use for my brute strength! I shall bring down the Earth's crust on your home world, and feast on your-”

“One.”

“Ah, crap.”

The girls were disappointed to not get their cutie marks in wrestling, but I got them ice cream from a vendor in the marketplace, and that brightened them up. After that, it was time to take them home. You’d be surprised how long it takes to clean up about two hundred pounds of balsa wood. Or maybe you wouldn’t be.

It went pretty much as usual. We dropped off Apple Bud at the farm first, walked back to Ponyville, dropped of Belle at her house…

...and then it was just me and Scooter.

“Um...hey, Scooter, I-”

“I’ll see you next week,” Scooter said briefly. “Thanks for today.”

And with that, she walked off. Just like that.

“Yeah, you...too…” I trailed off as she got farther and farther away.  I shook my head and crossed the road to Sugarcube Corner, disappointed.

No one was in the dining area. No one at the counter, no nothing. Figures. It was pretty late. The Cakes and Pies are probably all asleep…but I’m not sure I can sleep with Scooter on my mind.

I sighed and scratched the back of my head. I honestly don’t understand Scooter’s deal. That is, her never letting me walk her home...and after last time, I’ve learned not to bring it up, but that just makes it harder to figure out what her problem is.

Not that I have to. It’s none of my business, and I don’t want to intrude on her life, but...I just want her to know that she can tell me anything. I would never judge her for whatever it was. I-

“Hunter!”

I froze. When I heard the door open, I figured it was Derpy on a last minute muffin run. Wouldn’t be the first time. But instead…

I turned around and faced somepony I’d been avoiding for over a week:

Sparklez. She looked a bit nervous, her wings fluttering at her sides, but smiled at me none the less. I gave a hesitant smile back. After all, she is my friend.

“Hey, Sparklez.” Please don’t bring it up please don’t bring it up please don’t-

“So…” Twilight idly kicked her hoof at the floor, her eyes wandering a bit. “I wanted to talk to you about something.”

“L-Lay it on me.” I was trying to sound casual, but if she was about to say what I think she’s about to say, I really just don’t want to hear it. Especially not with all this Scootaloo stuff weighing down on my mind.

...Wait a minute.

“About the Christmas par-”

“Sparklez?”

Twilight looked a bit miffed that I’d interrupted her, but gestured for me to continue, letting out a small sigh as she did so.

“You’re a princess, right?” I asked. I then realized how stupid of a question that was when Twilight glanced at her wings and horn, and then gave me a look.

“Um, right, sorry, of course you are,” I babbled. “So, you’d know if there was some kind of...I dunno, archive of information around here?”

Twilight looked slightly taken aback by the change in subject.

“Well...the library is under reconstruction…” she began slowly. “But there is an archive in Town Hall. It’s not open to the public, though. It’s just information on mortgage payments, addresses, bills of sale-”

“Did you say addresses?”

Twilight glared at me, and I realized that I’d interrupted her once again. I smiled sheepishly.

“Sorry. So...what you’re saying is that there’s files in town hall with information on where people in town are staying?”

“...Yes. Why are you asking all of this?”

I sighed, sat down at one of the tables, and wrung my hands.

“I’m worried about Scootaloo.”

Twilight seemed to forget all about what she had come to Sugarcube Corner to talk to me about, and gave me a concerned frown. She trotted up and sat across from me.

“Why?”

“She...she’s been acting really defensive about her home life. Every time I’ve played with the Crusaders, I offer to walk them all home, but Scootaloo always refuses. I tried to confront her about it, but she was acting really suspicious, like she had something to hide. I pushed her too hard, and she threw a snowball at me and ran off...I need closure on this. I have to find out where she lives.”

I turned to Twilight, giving her an exasperated look.

“Am I wrong?” I asked. “I-I keep feeling like I shouldn’t be getting involved in whatever it is Scootaloo’s hiding, and maybe it’s not my place, but...I don’t know.”

Twilight gave me a hard look, thinking. Her eyes eventually softened and she put a hoof on my hand.

”It’s not wrong to be concerned about a friend,” she said softly. “Not in the least. But to act on that concern is something completely different. Do you really think it’s necessary to do this?”

“Yes,” I said without a moment’s hesitation. “I don’t know if it’s right, but I know that it has to be done. I mean...she could be being abused, or worse, and I wouldn’t know…”

I looked over at Twilight, who was giving me a shocked look.

“A-Abused?” she repeated. “W-What makes you say something like that? That’s horrible!”

“I can’t see it being much else,” I rushed out. “I’m drawing a blank as to what she could be so defensive about. It doesn’t have to be abuse, but the point is that I want to help her no matter what it is.”

“But...Hunter, this seems a bit too much. If it was that big of an issue, don’t you think Scootaloo would have told somepony by now?”

“No.” I shook my head, refusing to believe that. “No, I don’t think so. Sparklez, have you ever been to Scooter’s home?”

“Well...no.”

“And don’t you think it’s a bit odd that the Crusaders hang out at the farm and the boutique sometimes, but never at Scooter’s place?”

Twilight looked down, not meeting my eyes.

“...Yes,” she finally said. “Yes, I find that weird, but that could mean nothing.”

“It could mean some of the worst things imaginable.”

“Could.”

“I would never drop something like this just because guesswork is involved, Sparklez,” I said quietly.” Not when there's a little girl that could be better off if I acted.”

Twilight’s fetlock wrapped around my hand, squeezing it lightly.

“...Okay.”

I looked up at her, confused.

“Okay?”

“I’ll go to city hall and get Scootaloo’s address,” Twilight practically whispered. “I’ll show you it, and we’ll go there to investigate, under three conditions.”

“Fine. What are they?”

“We’re going together,” Twilight said with finality. “If a pony sees a human they’ve never seen before knocking on their front door, they might panic. You know how some ponies act around you.”

I bitterly thought of the more skittish ponies in town. I wasn’t bitter about them. I was bitter at the thought that I could instill fear in creatures...no, people, like them.

“...Alright,” I resigned.

“Also, we’re doing this tomorrow morning.” I began to object, but Twilight looked at me in the eyes, silencing me. “I want you to have a night to think about what you’re doing. You could very well be betraying a filly’s trust. I want to make sure you’re certain that you’re willing to take that risk.”

“I...okay. I see your point. What’s the last condition?”

“Once this is all over…” Twilight’s eyes went to the table. “I want to have a talk with you.”

“What?”

Twilight looked back up, looking a bit angry.

“Every time we talk, there’s always something getting in the way. I want you to promise me that we can have a talk where I control the topic. You can’t change it, and you have to be completely honest with me, and the conversation doesn’t end until I say it ends. Okay?”

I thought back to all the times I’d avoided her, the lengths I’d taken to make sure I never ran into her, all the times I’d run away from talking to her. I could see how she could be a bit hurt by that. She’s my friend. One honest conversation can’t hurt.

“...Okay,” I accepted quietly. Twilight squeezed my hand, rose from her seat, then trotted towards the door. She turned around and opened her mouth as if to say something, but seemed to think better of it, and exited the building.

I spent the rest of that night at that table, thinking about my decision to intrude on Scooter’s life. I could help her…

...or I could lose her.

And I don’t think I can stand to lose another little sister. Next Chapter: Home Life Part 2: Dreams and Decisions Estimated time remaining: 50 Minutes