Outside of Working Hours (Private)

[Scarlet]

Scarlet met up with Jitter's back at their stalls.

She took the supplies out of her saddlebags and placed them into Jitter's basket. In an attempt to find the easiest way to carry the basket she ended up using some rope to tie the basket up on her back by tying it to both of her saddlebags. The basket rested just on the edge of her dress.

She beckoned Jitter's to follow her. Scarlet assumed that she would need to lead the way, unsure of how well her friend knew his way up to the stream and he definitely didn't know the secret back track to the quietest spot in all of Ponyville. She had gone up there was a walk once when she first arrived and had stumbled upon the hidden path which she tries her best to keep secret from those who do not know. Surely she was not the only one that had stumbled across it but she didn't need it to fill up with ponies so she herself could not enjoy it.

Ten minutes of travel led them to the edge of town and the main path to the river. This path continued for another five minutes until Scarlet took a sharp turn left, straight into the bush.

Any ponies watching her would think she was mad turning straight off the path, however her hooves were quickly met with a smaller, slightly overgrown path facing in a right angle away from the original path.

"That other path will take you to the main part of the river. It's where all the ponies go but it's really noisy and right near the hydro electric dam so it isn't that pretty, but this path goes to a real nice secluded spot. I doubt any other pony will be there at all." She called out.

The journey was tiring and very hot. By the time she reached the exit out of the bush she was covered in a lather of sweat. Now that she didn't need the heavy basket on her back she couldn't get it off fast enough.

Untying the rope with great speed and lowering it to the ground. She shook off her saddlebags.

Her dress was the next to come off. The delicate fabric left to fall to the sand. Under her dress she revealed her bathing suit. She wore a tiny seductive bright pink bikini bottom.

She couldn't help looking amazing, even when swimming. She took off towards to stream and jumped from the top of the largest rock, straight into the gentle current.

She made a loud splash and she entered the water. It was a great relief. The water was a perfect temperature. The clearing itself was beautiful. The trees gave way to a large field of sand that bordered the crystal clear river.

On the close side of the bank the sand dipped straight into the water and was devoid of all obstacles other than one large rock, that was perfect to jump off. On the other side was a tall rocky cliff face that seemed to curl part way over the lake. On top of the cliff face was a massive wall of trees that added to the secluded nature of the spot.

Upstream the trees were dense but parted to gave way to the sandy plain and downstream the trees seemed to close back up, consuming the river once again.

Scarlet swam through the water, enjoying it's icy touch. The water seeped through her hair and massaged her sore muscles as she floated in the gentle, slow moving current.

[Deleted]

The weather was significantly and ridiculously hotter than when they had first taken off for their journey, and Jitters could almost feel the sweat just pouring off of him. He had taken the cooler out of the basket to make the load easier for Scarlet, and also had a blanket poking out from one of his saddlebags, and the radio was tightly shut inside of the other one. During their journey, they had both just spoken idle chitchat with no real or significant conversations happening, other than Jitters mild horror at having to go off the path and into the bushes, but it was an issue that was quickly overcome when he learned that if they wanted peace and quiet, this was certainly the way to go. As they arrived, he let Scarlet go off and get into the water, whilst he sat to the side and set up the blanket and radio, before carefully undoing the buttons on his shirt, waistcoat and tugging his bowtie to make it come undone, before neatly and carefully folding it all and placing it on the blanket, and only at this point, looking at his free pelt that he realised he was beginning to get a little bit more furry than he intended, with pelt growing a little faster than he could keep up with and he chuckled to himself before gently testing the water and climbing in, not like the outlandish display that Scarlet had shown. He gently bobbed in the water, not really swimming as much as staying perfectly still and floating, before moving his hooves slightly around to assure that he could swim a little bit more freely, looking something akin to the "doggy paddle" with regards to his swimming skills. This was a nice little area, it more or less captured the innocent and sweet nature of Ponyville.

[Scarlet]

About twenty metres downstream from where Scarlet had jumped in was a small rock ridge in the river. This marked the end of the slowly moving stream.
The gentle water that poured over the top quickly fell over a three metre waterfall and drastically increased speed. Scarlet swam hard to pick up speed in the slow river but managed to propel herself off the waterfall, screaming as she did so. The landing in the rapids below and rid them to the tree line, where she managed to snag a rock and pull herself on shore.
"You can try going over the waterfall if you want a challenge, but probably wait until your comfortable with the gentle part." She called out to Jitter's.
Scarlet did the same thing she had just done. She leaped from the rock into the river and swam off the rock ridge, once again picking herself up before
she was pulled deep into the forest. It wasn't a big deal if she was, it would just be a minor inconvenience as there would no way to get out until about a kilometre downstream where the river emptied into the usually public river area. Once she got sick of doing that a few times she was exhausted but not quite ready to get out.
She walked up the river bank to the top of the river opening. She was hot and bothered just by her short walk. From the top of the river mouth she walked into the river instead of diving in and laid on her back. This time she didn't swim but allowed the benign river current to drift her downstream.
It was relaxing and cool.
"Come drift with me." She said enticingly to Jitter's as she passed him.

[Deleted]

"You are taking full responsibility if I die, down, get lost or die. You have been warned. I said 'die' twice so that you know how serious this is."

Jitters claimed playfully, rather enjoying his little trip down to the riverside. Although not the best swimmer, he didn't quite realise how much he actually enjoyed just relaxing in the water like this, it was simple and peaceful, creating an air of nature and simplicity that he didn't actually think he could really understand until now due to his upbringing in a city-type environment, but it sure was fun. He fixed himself properly before going and drifting next to Scarlet and just looking into the sky.

"It really is quite an extraordinary sight you know, I never would have believed I would ever have been able to do something like this in my life, floating down a stream and just enjoying the natural world in all its glory. I am quite an indoorsman if I'm quite frank, and for the most part being outside gets me rather bothersome, but this... this is enjoyable."

Jitters closed his eyes and smiled to himself, feeling the the warm Sun on his body whilst the water around him just flowed peacefully and gently and he looked to see where Scarlet was, making sure she hadn't disappeared on him before he began to think to himself about how hungry he was and how they should probably be best having the picnic soon so that the food doesn't go off being left out in the warm sun to bake, but he was just quite at ease for the current moment.

[Scarlet]

Scarlet giggled that she was responsible if her friend drowned while floating. She dipped her hooves in the water and paddle slightly closer to Jitter's and took his hoof in her own.

That way they wouldn't drift apart and if Jitter's somehow got into trouble she knew right where we was. They continued drifting for what seemed like ages until the bubbling sound of the waterfall approached.

Aware that Jitter's may panic that he is being led, head first over a waterfall. She stood up and led him to the shore a good distance before the rocky ridge.

Scarlet sighed at the effort of pulling herself out of the water and into the uncomfortable heat. She walked up the bank to their picnic site, which was a lot more organise than she had left it.

'Classic Jitter's' She mumbled to herself.

She moved the basket and saddlebags just off to the side of the blanket and took out the roles. She placed them neatly on the blanket and preceded to rummage through her saddlebags to acquire her towel.

She laid it on the ground so that she could lay half on her towel and half on the picnic blanket.
She splayed out her limbs and collapsed on to the material below her.
 Resting on the warm dry cotton.

She picked up Jitter's role and tossed it to him while digging into her own.

As much as she did enjoy the relaxing float she was some what in a bit of a sour mood.

Here she was looking amazing, hooves all painted, mane all wet and dripping over her, sexy bathers that struggled to cover much, splayed suggestively on a towel and she hadn't got a single compliment from Jitter's.

What was the point in putting so much effort into looking this good if it didn't get recognised by the one she was trying to impress.

She couldn't be too upset at Jitter's, he did help her do her hooves after all.

[Deleted]

Catching it, just barely, Jitters placed it softly onto the picnic blanket and looked for his own towel he had packed with him and stood to the side, drying himself off. His normally spiky mane was resting on his face, flattened by the water and despite being a little bit worried of possibly having something slightly unnervingly germ-like possibly in his hair, he tried to put it to the back of his mind and sat down cheerfully, gazing into the sky with a keen enthusiasm.

It really is a wonderful day outside, I hope that it stays like this for our opening tomorrow, I'd really hate for it to rain or something along those lines, surely you agree Miss Scarlet? It would indeed be terrible if the weather had comforted itself into a rather different position to that of today."

He was never particularly keen on being on the outside, but this little adventure was something particularly new to him, and it would definitely shine through some of his other memories of being outside and he chuckled to himself thinking of some of the more terrible experiences he had when he was younger and he began to nibble on his food and looked at Scarlet.

"Is there something wrong Miss Scarlet? If you don't mind me saying, you don't seem particularly up to yourself right now, you seem a little bit distant and dare I say, a little troubled. Is there something on your mind you would mind talking about?"

There was a slight worry but curiosity on the stallion's face as he looked at her with intense uncertainty on his face.

[Scarlet]

Scarlet looked up the sky.

'Yeah it would be a pity if it rained.' She thought to herself glumly.

She continued taking rather aggressive bites into her role.

'He's asking me what's wrong. He must notice he upset me. Does he know what he did wrong? I shouldn't be too cruel to him. Should I just tell him why I'm upset?'

She decided to choose the latter as it yielded the most hope of returning the meal to an enjoyable.

"Yeah I'm fine, it's just... it's just that I've put a lot of effort into making myself beautiful for you. Thank you for helping with my hooves but I've had to do my hair,
my organic make-up. I put the effort into squeezing into a tight bathing suit, making the light bounce of my hair so it shines and positioning myself to look fabulous and I haven't even got a single compliment.
From the second I met you I've been putting 100% into my looks.

I know I probably sound a bit rude but when I put this much effort into looking good to for someone I want at least a bit of recognition." She explained sadly.


She exhaled.

"It's ok, I'll just keep eating."

She took another bite of her role, now more sad than angry. She finished off the role and opened the basket and pulled out some chocolate bars. She tossed one to
 Jitter's and ate one herself. Consuming all of the treat before her in seconds.

[Deleted]

He stared at her as she continued doing what she was doing and his heart sank a little, he didn't even realise that something like this could happen and thought everything had been so clear thus far, and he bit his lip a little. How would she react to something like this, and the last thing he would do would want her to be uncomfortable or feel a little uncertain around him. He had never really had to do something like this before and he shuddered, a surge of fear running down his body and he began to shift a little nervously on his hooves before taking a deep breath and clearing his throat, putting down his roll. A swelling feeling overcame his body, he tensed and froze then softened then began to panic, this was truly the scariest sensation he had ever experienced in his life.

"Miss Scarlet... I... I'm sorry for how you feel, I didn't meant to make you feel this way, and I certainly can relate to this kind of situation. Of course you look lovely and beautiful every day, and you really shouldn't change yourself and especially put extra effort into yourself for the likes of me. But... I think I should be quite fair and honest with you, and I'm a little surprised you didn't guess thus far..."

His voice began to shake a little towards the end before taking another deep breath and closing his eyes, a cold surge ran down his spine and he swallowed hard, picking up his pride and looking at his dear friend intently.

"I'm... I'm gay Scarlet. This is normally the kind of thing I don't have to tell anypony as most guess it fairly straight out, but... I didn't want you to feel hurt by me. We're good friends and I'd really love it if we could stay that way, and of course you're a gorgeous and fashionable pony, you really don't need to put any effort at all into looking good. You're a beautiful and wonderful pony, I'm just... I just think there's been a small misunderstanding."

He could feel tears welling up in his eyes a little, but quickly hid his face, turning to the side slightly, avoiding eye contact with her. His face had gone a bright shade of red.

[Scarlet]

"Oh my Celestia. I didn't mean to make you upset. I'm so sorry. I don't think you understood what I was saying. I'm not disapointed that you aren't interested in me or anything.

Your sexuality doesn't matter. All I want is my effort to be recognised. It's just all mares like a compliment every now and then, even from their best friends, which is what you are to me."

Cheer up, do you want some more food or do you want to go for a swim?" She emptied out the remaining contents of the straw basket to allow some fruit and biscuits to fall onto a plastic plate on the rug.

She picked up one of the apples and took a bite of the juicy fruit.

"Just another thing. Incase you were wondering, I don't pretty-up for someone because I'm interested in them, It's more to make a good impression. It helps me feel better about myself."

She smiled, hoping that she had cheered up Jitter's and had not completely wreaked their friendship.

After she finished her apple she gave the core a toss into the forest where it landed with a faint thud.

Some animals would soon find it and make a good meal out of it.

She stood up and stretched her legs. "Cmon, let's go for a dip."

Scarlet bolted towards to river. She reached the tall rock and dived in. From there she pointed her snout downstream and open her wings above the water, catching the air.

She used the thrust provided by the strong breeze to propel her down the river at great speeds. It was exhilarating.

[Deleted]

A little awkwardly standing around, Jitters began to fidget a little with his hooves. Swallowing awkwardly and fixing himself uncomfortably.

"You really needn't fear your appearance so much Miss Scarlet, you are certainly a well-presented individual, as I consider myself to be for the most part, and I'm certainly know how much effort it takes to look this good."

Jitters posed nervously but playfully, trying to make light of the situation before Scarlet decided to rush into the water. He shrugged playfully and dashed into the water after her, trying to keep up, but finding it hard, just reverting to his typical "doggy paddle" fashion and slowly swimming after her. He couldn't believe the speed she could swim at, she was clearly an experienced swimmer and he considered maybe asking her about her skill sometime, he just wasn't sure if now was the appropriate time, especially as she darted away from him at explosive velocity, he found it difficult to believe a pony could swim like that. He began to slow a little, feeling the water begin to take its toll on his body and he cramped a little, feeling a shot of pain fly through his body and he tried to swim his way towards the shore, fearing that the water will eventually take control of him. Then the worst possible thing happened, another cramp in his forelegs made him freeze in the water, but the gentle current began to drag him down the stream and he began to panic, looking around for Scarlet, but she couldn't be seen. Panic began to swell in his body and he could feel himself slowly begin to sink into the water but tried to keep regular breathing to stay afloat.

[Scarlet]

Scarlet shot over the waterfall and collided with the bubbling stream below.

She pulled herself out of the water when she reached the usual spot. Clambering up on the shore she turned back, looking for Jitter's.

He wasn't there.

'Had he run off? Had he left her there? Had he been mad at her and ran off?' She kept thinking these questions to herself until she noticed a panicked Jitter's that drifted

with the current just below the surface. He didn't look like he was having fun.

She trotted up the the diving rock and peered into the water at the drifting pegasus. She cocked her head to the side and gave a questioning gaze. She stared at the pony as he passed her.

'Great, He's gone and started drowning. I guess I better pull him out.' She decided as she dived into the water and pulled the waterlogged stallion out of the water.

Wings that were wet didn't fly well at all but she was able to get enough lift to clear them of the flowing stream and allow them to collide with the bank at a reasonable force.

Luckily Jitter's hadn't been underwater too long so it was unlikely he needed any CPR. Scarlet hadn't actually gotten to learn CPR... She knew it was an important skill and blah blah blah.

She had put it off and put it off and... now.. eh.



(Additional History Information Not Related to What's Happening Right Now, But Related To What Happened Before)

Scarlet's only athletic strength was swimming. At school she had to take a sport, it was compulsory. Much to her dismay she had to select a sport to take up for her school years so she elected to swim.

The public pool was really close so it was easy for the school swim team to train. It was much easier than any other sport, they all had to travel 30 minutes by bus to get to their fields as the space

required to have a sports oval was already consumed by apartment buildings which dominated the Manehatten cityscape.

Swimming was also the only sport with a regulated temperature. She wouldn't be forced to run around outside in blazing heat. The pool would keep her cool. The pool that they trained in could even be

heated in winters, making it a preferred training ground opposed to the freezing icy terrain of outside fields.

[Deleted]

Violently panicking and clinging to Scarlet, Jitters' eyes were tightly sealed shut, his fear was clear and even when he was on land, he just sat perfectly still, with the exception of shuddering a little violently as he tried his best to overcome himself, but he kept uttering the words "thank you" every now and then. But he tried to calm himself down, mentally going over the fact he was alive and Scarlet wouldn't let him die, but he still sat unmoving for just around 20 minutes or so, and swallowed hard; eventually chilling out a little bit more and looked up at Scarlet with a sincere gentle gaze whilst his drenched mane was matted to his forehead.

"I... I really appreicate you rescuing me... I'm sorry if I panicked a little, I just... I worried so hard because I couldn't swim and I guess I may have overreacted a bit more than I had intentionally meant to, and I promise I'll do my best to not do that again... Regardless Miss Scarlet, I do believe this has been a little bit much adventure for one day, perhaps we should wrap it up and head out? I do have a few more last-minute changes I wanted to work on, and I also wanted to have another wander around the marketplace on my own to see if I could get the understanding of how to maneuver it fairly well, surely you understand what it is I'm talking about?"

Jitters grinned to her, cheering up somewhat.

[Scarlet]

Scarlet laughed off Jitter's thanks.

She sat by him and watched as he slowly regained his wits.

"All good. You just got a bit caught up in the water, it happens." She chimed, not fazed with Jitter's near death experience.

She agreed that it was enough excitement for one day and that Jitter's should try to find his bearings on his own.

"Shall we go?" She suggested to Jitter's.

Now in a cheerful mood after a swim to cool off, she hopped over to the basket, blanket and towels.
She shoved the wet towels and blanket into the basket which she secured on her back.

She gave Jitter's a good amount of time to get up and insisted that he didn't carry a thing.

Still wet, she didn't change back into her dress and decided to walk back in her swimwear.

They traced the bush track back to the main path. The temperature had cooled down from earlier in the day when they had walked out to the river.

The walk was tiring as she was already completely exhausted from her vigerous swimming.

By the time she arrived at the edge of town the day was still young. It was only two in the afternoon.

She paused to take her towel out of the basket and drape it over her back. She shrugged off Jitter's basket and returned it to him.

"Here's your basket. If your ok to carry it that is. If not I can carry it to your place for you. Thanks for coming by the way, even if you didn't have the best time.
 It was fun, we should do something similar sometime." Suggested a smiling Scarlet.

[Deleted]

"I would enjoy that, Miss Scarlet. If it's not a problem to you in the slightest. I would certainly appreciate spending time with you again outside of business hours! If there's anything you'd really like to do, don't be afraid to mention it to me, I am certainly up for most things, granted, even if they do push be a little further from my comfort zone than I am fairly used to. Regardless; today was simply splendid and your company was wonderful, what do you plan to do for the rest of the day?"

Jitters shook himself off and picked up the basket, getting more comfortable around Scarlet's company, and certainly being happy to spend the day with her. He planned to head to the market himself for a bit and have a short wander to get himself around a little bit better. He smiled at Scarlet sweetly, wanting to know what she had planned for the day.

He considered what Scarlet might want to do if they happened to go out again, he had hoped that one day she might take him to Manehattan so he could see the "big city life" that all of the ponies have in this little corner of the world. He couldn't help but grin to himself to think of all of the ponies running around happily in the big city, having fun and just going about their business, eating expensive food and wearing expensive clothes. That was the life he was used to, but he enjoyed the small country life.

[Scarlet]

Scarlet smiled at her friend.

"For the rest of the day... uhhh. I think I'll just head home. Maybe get dry off some more, get dressed. Then I'll probably just lounge around at home

until tomorrow when I actually have to get up and do stuff. It's the grand opening tomorrow after all. It will be an early start so I'll probably get to bed early."

She nodded a goodbye to Jitter's, gave a small wave goodbye and headed off towards her house. She was in a kinda bored mood. She didn't feel like doing anything.

The path to her place was uneventful and the uneven pavement was rough underhoof. She managed to catch the eye of a few stallions that glared at her attire but shrugged them

off and focused on her exhausting walk home. It had been a long day with an early start. She looked forward to sitting down and just resting. She wasn't in the mood for conversation or

any other interaction these stallions had in mind.

She blocked out simmering world and blankly stared at the road ahead of her, curving, turning and twisting towards its final destination.

Eventually the journey yielded the faint yellow walls of her small temporary home. It consisted of a doorway that led into one small room. The house itself was built into

the side of other houses of the same size that fitted together to give to illusion of a single luxurious home.

The door of her tiny house swung open at the application of a hoof and gave way to the elegantly messy, pink covered room that belonged to Scarlet.

Once inside and hidden from the world she undressed and towelled off. She didn't bother to re-dress as she didn't plan to go anywhere important.

She laid down on the bed and buried her face in the pillow. She let her body sink in to the fabric and relax.