The day I stepped out of that hospital I was a whole new pony with the scars and the cutie mark to prove it. I had decided on becoming one of the Royal Guard. That meant I had to really push myself. I needed to smart. I needed to be strong. That meant exercising every day, studying every day.

 

And for the rest of the Semester that is exactly what I did. It made my teachers very happy but it also got me a lot mean looks from the under-achievers when they started telling the other colts and fillies to be more like me. Looks is all they gave however as being one of the biggest colts in the class none of them dared to say anything to my face.

 

Maths, Science, Runes, Languages, History and Fitness. I managed to pass all of them enough to know I could get an A in the final exams, especially Fitness & History. But maths was a problem for me. It wasn’t at I couldn’t do them. The problem was I was terrible at memorizing them.

 

I’d gotten mostly A’s in my other subjects but only passed with a mere C in my maths exam. At first I wasn’t worried. It just highlighted an area where I had a weakness, I would simply put more focus on and I would improve before the final exams.

 

Only I didn’t.

 

Exam after exam, my score would increase but seemed always out of reach of the B. An A grade might as well have been on the moon at this point. I was really starting to worry at this point. If I failed to meet the doctor’s expectations, he might… no, there was no time for negative thoughts. Only one solution remained.

 

I needed help.

 

When the class went for dinner with all the eagerness of a prisoner escaping a jail cell, I took my time, making excuses so that even the teacher left before me. With him out of the way I approached his desk and looked at the register in which he recorded all our grades. I dismissed the wicked little thought that told me to tamper with the grades of those who gave me dirty looks as I glanced up the page to find my own name amongst the entries.

 

There were about six people in the class with grades that were equal or higher than my own. And they were nearly all mares. No surprise there. There was one colt. The name surprised me.

 

B.Macintosh

 

I’d met him before. A big red stallion, the only one my own size who could look me in the eye. Not that we ever face off like that. He was very polite and spoke only when he needed to and even that never went beyond saying yes or no in that accent of his.

 

Why would a farm pony like Macintosh be turning out grades like this though? I looked at his maths score. That elusive A stood in its neat little box.

 

Mocking me.

 

Maybe Macintosh could help me. Perhaps he knew of a way to memorize things better.

 

Now all I had to do was ask him. Now how do I go about doing it?

 

I started feeling this strange mix of embarrassment and something else I couldn’t explain. I remembered how I’d told those two knuckleheads to ask Mac about joining their club and how they’d claimed Macintosh somehow too good for them to bother. I remembered pitying them for not having the guts to ask and yet here I was in the same boat.

 

I shook my head to clear my thoughts, I had never asked a pony, any pony, for help before. I’d always managed to do things on my own so far and having to ask Macintosh for help would feel like admitting my weakness. But Mac wasn’t the gossiping sort. I was sure he would keep this between us. I now felt confident to ask him for help but I needed to find him first.

 

That wouldn’t be too difficult. When it came to Big Macintosh he was either doing two things, studying in class or working at the farm. I hoped I might be able to catch him after school before he made it back to the farm. The only problem was that we were in different classes at the end of today. I just hoped he didn’t get too far ahead when the final bell rang.

 

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Surprise, Surprise. I was galloping out of the school ground as fast as possible. Just my luck that Mac’s teachers let him out early. Ponies dived out of my way as I charged past them. I heard a few call out to me though whether they were greeting or cursing me I couldn’t tell over the sound of my own hooves beating the ground as I ran. Getting an A in fitness was paying off here as I was able to gallop all the way to Sweet Apple Acres without having to stop and yet I’d seen no sign of him yet.

 

Maybe he didn’t go straight to the farm after all.

 

The farm came into view as the path began to crest the top of a hill. As I reached the top the figure of Macintosh loomed into view forcing me to grind to a halt mere inches from his flank, which I happened to notice was still blank, the thought making me stare at his behind longer than I meant to. He smells really nice.

 

“Can ah help ya with anything?” he asked, with that strand of hay in mouth the teachers kept telling him not to chew in class.

 

“Huh?? Oh. Oh! Sorry, I.. er… didn’t me to behind you. I mean look at your behind, I mean…”

 

My face felt so hot. Mal! My mind screamed. What the buck are you doing?!

 

“Your Malinter.” he said. “The one that saved those two from the forest.” he said,

 

“Y-yeah. That’s me.” I replied.

 

What the heck was wrong with me? I’m acting like a damn mare!

 

I… Oh…. Wait. yeah....

 

My other “other” weakness I didn’t want to reveal to Mac; I liked colts.

 

I wonder if he…?

 

No, no!

 

I don’t have time to start crushing on Mac… No, look at the face not the flank, idiot!

 

Big Macintosh turned around. And walked towards me, he slowly moved around me, checking out the surgery scars, I could feel him run a hoof over the ones my coat hadn’t fully grown over yet. Eventually his eyes found my cutie mark.

 

“A horseshoe. Quite a’few of mah family have marks w’horseshoes in ‘em. You get all these scars from the timberwolves?” he asked.

 

I slowly nodded, quite happy to have him in my personal space for some reason.

 

“Granny Smith ran into pack o’wolves in there when she was a filly. Says she’s never ran so fast in her life.”

 

“She must have been a lot quicker than the three of us were.” I replied.

 

“Eeyup.” he replied, he gave my flank a few gentle pats before walking back to where he was stood before without a word.

 

Does he...? Maybe they weren‘t misplaced in their respect after all. This guy reads me like a damn book. Knows all my buttons and I haven’t even said anything. The red stallion just stared at me, that lazy look he had on his face making his thoughts unreadable to anyone but himself.

 

“So, what can I help ya with?” he asked.

 

“I need you to teach me how to do Maths the way you do.” I replied pointing my hoof at him. He flicked the hay in his mouth to the other side.

 

“Well, I dunno…”

 

“I’ll do anything.” I interrupted before he could finish. He raised an eye brow and did he just smirk?

 

Oh Celestia why did I say that.

 

“Anything, uh?" He started walking towards the farm. “Wait for me in the barn, I’ll be about 10 minutes.”

 

My hoof returned to the ground. I just stood there alone for a moment, my mind trying to learn how to speak again until something resembling Equestrian left my mouth.