Destinies Intertwined

Fluttershy walked into her cottage not bothering to shut the door. She ran to her couch and continued crying. The only man she had ever had a genuine crush on, liked one of her best friends. Talk about awkward. Now her chance was gone. But maybe Applejack didn’t want to date him...maybe she didn’t want a relationship…

But what girl WOULDN’T want to date Caramel? He was sweet, cute, a hard worker, not to mention that one time when she was over at the Apples farm and he took off his shi-

No. She wouldn’t think about Caramel, why long for something she couldn’t have? Surely there would be someone else, right? Or maybe Rainbow Dash was right. Maybe she doesn’t really need anyone else. She had several animal friends, they were good company, right?

But...they weren’t the same… They can’t give her the romance a pony can. She couldn’t have a family with them. She could never find someone as amazing as Caramel…

Suddenly, Fluttershy heard a knock at the door. She looked up and asked, “Who is it?”

“Fluttershy? Is everything alright in there?” That voice belonged to Applejack.

Fluttershy was about to invite her in, but for some reason even she couldn’t comprehend, she yelled, “Go away!”

There was a pause, before Applejack asked. "Sugarcube? Is everythin' alright?"

“Just go away!”

"Fluttershy... Ah saw you runnin to your house...and Ah could tell you were crying... Please Flutters, Ah just wanna help."

Fluttershy tried to refuse, but gave up as she walked to the door and opened it.

She saw Applejack. The farm girl just stood there with a concerned look on her face holding a large basket of apples.

"Fluttershy...what's wrong?"

“Well…”

"You can tell me anything."

Fluttershy shook her head. "Not this."

"Wah not?"

"“I can’t…”

"Why?"

“I just can’t.”

Applejack sighed in defeat, "Alright, Flutters. Ah'll go..." Applejack put down the basket of apples, "Thought y'all might want some apples... They're on tha house."

Fluttershy didn't say anything. She just closed the door in Applejack's face.

*****

A young orange Pegasus was sitting in a large tree in the park, watching a group of young boys playing a game of football. One of the boys, who was playing the quarterback position, had caught the eye of the young Pegasus.

The orange Pegasus, wearing a dark blue windbreaker, jeans, and tennis shoes, continued to watch the boy. He wore a red sweater, jeans, and tennis shoes.

Scootaloo sighed. She knew she couldn't have him; he was seeing Diamond Tiara. She tried to tell herself that he wasn't worth it if he had a thing for Diamond Tiara.

“Scootaloo!”

Scootaloo jumped and almost fell out of the tree. She looked down to see Sweetie Belle and Applebloom looking up at her. She groaned before climbing down the tree. “Gee, can’t you be any more loud, Sweetie Belle?”

“Sorry. What are you doing up there?”

“I was...uh...watching the boys play football over there.”

“Oh… Wait, you like football?” Applebloom asked.

“Well… No… I just like the boys.”

“Ah… Watchin’ a certain pegasus?”

Scootaloo blushed. “Uh...Maybe… But what’s it to you?”

“Um… Nothing, I guess…”

“Okay…”

“So… We were thinking about trying to get our Cutie Marks in ice skating if you want to come.” Sweetie Belle offered.

“Haven’t we tried that last week?”

“No, that was hockey...and...did we really need to bring Bulk Biceps along?”

“Well… he did play hockey in college…”

“Still…”

“Sure, if it’ll get the terror twins off our back.”

“Don’t say their names. They might show up after you said that.”

“Well...maybe Bulk Biceps should come along again…”

The trio of girls giggled, before heading off to the lake…

*****

When they arrived, the only other person there was Pinkie Pie. “Hiya girls!” Pinkie greeted.

“Hi Ms. Pinkie.” Sweetie Belle greeted back as she sat down and began putting on her ice skates.

“Enjoyin’ some ice skatin’?” Applebloom asked.

“Yup! I love ice skating!” Pinkie twirled as she continued, “I love it almost as much as my friends, the Cake twins, Gummy, parties, cupcakes, chocolate, new Ponyville citizens, the beach, my party cannon, and MORE CHOCOLATE!!!!” She stopped. “Want to try it?”

“Sure!” Sweetie Belle walked onto the ice, with Scootaloo and Applebloom behind.

They were better at skating than last week, but they still took a few tumbles. They were trying to get used to the basic techniques of skating before getting into the actual stunts. Pinkie made sure to help the young girls.

Scootaloo tried to keep her balance, but it’s more difficult to balance on ice skates than it is on her scooter. She eventually slipped and fell on her flank. “Ow…” She rubbed her sore bottom.

Sweetie Belle skated quickly over. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah...but I think the only mark I’ll get out of this will be black and blue.”

“What kind ah mark is black and blue?” Applebloom asked.

“A bruise.”

“Oh…”

“Yeah… So I think I’ll sit this one out.” With that, Scootaloo hobbled over to the snow bank.

Sweetie Belle looked at Applebloom and whispered. “Should we just call it a day?”

“Well, Ah’m gettin’ a little cold myself…”

“Okay. Maybe we should go to Sugarcube Corner and get some Hot Chocolate.”

“Sounds good.”

“Yeah…” Sweetie looked to Pinkie. “Hey, Pinkie? Are you gonna be going to Sugarcube Corner?”

Pinkie stopped twirling. “Oh my gosh! I have to go right now and make the Cutie Mark Crusaders hot chocolate!” Pinkie bolted in the direction of Sugarcube Corner.

*****

The three girls entered Sugarcube Corner. Pinkie Pie was already behind the counter and wearing a pink sweater, jeans, tennis shoes, and a cooking apron. “Hi girls! I got you hot chocolate for ya!” She pulled out a tray with three mugs of hot chocolate.

“Thank you.” Sweetie Belle smiled sweetly.

The girls were about to pay for their drinks, but Pinkie stopped them. “You don’t need to pay anything, the Cakes decided since it was so cold the hot chocolate would be free.”

“Oh...thanks, Pinkie.”

“You bet.”

All three girls began to sip their hot chocolates. Out of the corner of her hey, Scootaloo spotted… him.

“Oh no…” Scootaloo muttered.

“What’s wrong?” Sweetie asked.

“He’s here.”

“Who?”

Scootaloo’s cheeks turned red. “R-Rumble.”

“Oh… Why don’t you talk go talk to him?”

“Are you crazy? He’s dating Diamond Tiara.”

“No, Diamond Tiara said he was dating Diamond Tiara. Are you gonna take her word for it?” Applebloom asked.

“I...I don’t know…”

“Is there any proof they’re dating?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Other than what she said...no.”

“Uh-huh…”

“Your point?”

"You don't think maybe she's messing with you?"

“Well… Um… Now that I think about it… Yes.”

"Go ahead and talk to him.”

"B-but what if I mess up? What if I say something stupid? What if he really is dating Diamond Tiara?"

"Then that’s his loss.”

"Still...I just don't know..."

"Just go over there, and TALK to him."

Scootaloo sighed. "Fine..." She got up and walked over to Rumble. Her heart was pounding more furiously the closer she got to him. It wasn’t just the fact that he was possibly dating Diamond Tiara, but also because she really admired him. He was attractive, smart, athletic, and every girl at school seemed to have a mild crush. What would surprise her though is if he didn’t have a cutie mark. Wouldn’t that be a big turn off for Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon?

He was sitting alone, sipping a mug of hot chocolate. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were nowhere in sight, at least not yet. She walked up to him and uttered a small, “Hi…”

Rumble looked at Scootaloo and replied, “Hey.”

"Um...h-how's it going?"

"Uh...okay..." Rumble started to sweat

“Good…”

"Yeah…” Rumble paused for a minute before he said, “So what brings you here?”

“Well, for one thing, we needed some hot chocolate to warm up with.”

"Oh...is there another reason?"

“Well… Um…” Scootaloo definitely didn't want to say she had a crush on him now, she had to wait. But what would she say?

"Are you okay?"

“Yes. I just…”

“Just what?”

“Um… Well…” Then it hit her. “What do you think of Diamond Tiara?”

"You mean that daddy's girl that gets whatever she wants and bullies almost every kid in class? She's a classless jerk that should fall in a Diamond dog mine."

“I agree with ya there,” Scootaloo said.

"Yeah... How she gets away with it is beyond me."

“Yeah. Why doesn’t Ms. Cheerilee just expel them?”

"Beats me. I'm not sure if she sees all of what happens."

“Probably not…"

“I hope she does soon, I’m tired of her hitting on me.”

This interested Scootaloo. “So...you two AREN’T dating?”

Rumble seemed surprised. “She’s starting rumors, too? Ugh…”

“Well, I guess that answers that question.”

“Yeah… Kinda weird she’d do that, I don’t think I’m real popular.”

Now Scootaloo was surprised. “What made you think that?”

“Uh… mostly cuz whenever I talked to someone, usually a girl, they just ignore me. You’re the first girl to talk to me...cept Diamond Tiara.”

“Uh… I think I may know why…”

“Why?”

“Uh… I’ll tell you later, but I have to ask, do you have your cutie mark?”

“Not yet.”

“Hmm...Interesting… Could I sit down?”

Rumble’s cheeks started to turn red, and his heart started beating hard. “Uh… N-no, I don’t mind.”

Scootaloo took a seat next to him. “I...I was asking cuz...maybe you’d like to be a member of our club…”

“Club?”

“Yeah… it’s just me, Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, and Applebloom’s cousin, Babs, but we wouldn’t mind another member.”

“I think I’d like that...but would the others let me since...I’m a boy?”

“I doubt they’d mind, they might actually be glad.”

Rumble chuckled nervously. “Well...I dunno. But I’ll definitely think about it.”

“Okay, great!” Scootaloo grinned. “And I’ll talk about it with Sweetie and Bloom.”

“Thanks…” Rumble smiled back.

“Yeah… I’ll let you know at school tomorrow if you’re in.”

“I hope not. My brother, Thunderlane, told me that the heating in the school isn’t working, and all the snow ‘n’ stuff...it might be closed.”

“My aunt will be happy to hear that, she had a tough time getting me to school on Friday.

“Yeah. This is one of those days I wished I could fly.”

“Oh? Why can’t you?”

Scootaloo swallowed. “I’d...rather not say…”

“Oh… Well, it’s okay. Thunderlane said he couldn’t fly ‘til he was fourteen

“Really? It took that long?”

“Yeah, some ponies are born flying, some just take a while. You’ll fly eventually.”

“Thanks… That helps.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Well… I gotta go. Where should I meet you if school’s closed?”

“Um… How ‘bout the tree in the park where you were watching us play football?”

“Okay! Sounds gr-” Scootaloo swallowed. “Uh...you saw that?”

“Yeah, kinda hard to hide in a tree when there are no leaves.”

Scootaloo’s cheeks turned red. “Hehe… Guess I didn’t think of that…”

“Yeah… You can watch us play on the ground next time, we don’t mind.”

“Alright. See ya then.”

“Okay, see ya.”

Scootaloo got up and walked back to the other girls.

“So, what’d he say?” Sweetie asked, eagerly.

“First, he and Diamond Tiara are not dating.”

“Well that’s good.” Bloom noted. “Anything else?”

“He wants to be one of us.”

“He wants to be a girl?” Sweetie gave Scootaloo a strange look.

“No! He wants to be a cutie mark crusader.”

“Oh. Wait, he doesn’t have his cutie mark?”

“Nope.”

“Oh. But then that would make him the first boy to be a Cutie Mark Crusader.”

“Yeah… But why not?”

“Ah don’t know. It just feels... weird.” Applebloom confessed.

“Well… Wouldn’t it be sexist if we left him out just cuz he’s a boy?” Sweetie pointed out.

“Well… Um… Uh…”

“Come on Applebloom. Please?” Scootaloo begged.

“Ah don’t know… Maybe we all should talk with him. And Ah’ll call Babs and see what she thinks.”

“Alright. Just hurry it up.”

“Ah’ll do it tonight. But...what if she says ‘no’?”

“Hopefully he’ll understand.”

“That’s not what Ah meant. What Ah meant was we’ll be in a tie.”

“Oh. Well… I guess we flip a bit.”

“So y’all are gon’ let a coin decide whether or not he gets in?”

“Yes,” the duo answered.

“Fine...but let’s do it tomorrow after Ah ask Babs.”

“Okay.”

Scootaloo sighed, thinking. ‘This won’t make things awkward, will it?’