It was one of those situations that didn't make sense right away, as a matter of fact it would probably never make sense to some ponies who would likely never take the time to look deeper than the surface of their love. This was the reason why they were so hesitant about the announcement they were about to make to a crowd of very eager ponies who had apparently been so excited about the news they were promised that they somehow gained the ability to hold cameras and maneuver them so that they pointed to the stage.
Scootaloo, a surprise guest in Celestia's speech used her hoof to gently lift up a small corner of the curtain and snuck a peek at the crowd outside. As soon as she saw the many camera's flashing at the small display of impatience she dropped the curtain corner and ran to the bathroom to throw up.
"Are you okay?" Celestia asked with concern from the outside of the bathroom as Scootaloo continued her nervous puking, which was oddly out of character for the brash tomboyish young pony that had caught her fancy all those years ago. Scootaloo stopped vomiting for a second and turned to address the unseen voice behind the door.
"I'm fine, i'm just puking up my guts in here because I find it relaxing!" Scootaloo said with more anger than was probably necessary, but as soon as her words were heard by her own ears she sighed and changed her tone.
"I'm fine princess, i'm just not sure if I can go through with this. I'm okay with dating you in private, but a public marriage proposal just seems a little bit...much." Scootaloo said with a slight hesitance at the last word that came from her limited vocabulary to say exactly what she wanted to say. Celestia listened to her worried words and after a small amount of thought responded.
"It was your idea." Celestia responded which caused Scootaloo to defy the rules of most normal ponies and facepalm herself, which thanks to her rock hard hooves managed to caused great discomfort to her face that when combine with the anxiety she was already feeling made her want to cry.
"I know that, I told you that I wanted to marry you when I turned 18. Despite the fact that the legal age for marriage in Ponyville is 16 and you're the princess and can change..."
"It was hard enough to convince you that was a bad idea 3 years ago, don't make me do it again." Celestia responded from behind the door once again as Scootaloo gave her an unseen glare and a slight smile.
"Well could you blame me? Back then I had already waited a few years for you to even acknowledge my existence, and when you did it was like..."
"Magic, pure magic. Like a handsome prince falling in love with a beautiful princess in a fairy tale romance, or a famous teen pop star falling in love with a fan at one of his shows. The way you confessed the feelings I had felt for years before in possibly the most romantic way possible will probably be my second favorite memory when i'm old and on my deathbed, with the first being our wedding which will be perfect like everything you plan and do. Stop saying exactly what i'm saying, I mean it..."
"Stop!" Scootaloo screeched as Celestia in her surprise took a step back and started rubbing her ears to soothe the pain from the sound-based attack, further defying the set laws of what ponies can and can't do. Upon hearing her cry of shock and possibly pain Scootaloo allowed herself to smile and opened the door to leave the bathroom to face her princess.
"Forgive me princess, but you know how much I hate it when you do that." Scootaloo explained, Celestia chuckled as she stood up and walked over to the young pony.
"That's why I do it." Celestia said with a very slight seductive tone in her voice as she leaned down and gave the pony a small kiss on the cheek, causing the pony to blush. Celestia smiled at the reaction and continued speaking.
"Just imagine, when we reveal our relationship publicly we'll be able to show our affections to each other more freely. For instance, instead of going on private dates to that secret room in the castle we could easily go to a real restaurant and..."
"I know, but how exactly do we explain our love in a way that they'll understand?" Scootaloo asked, interrupting her girlfriend as she did. Celestia smiled and gave her another kiss on the cheek.
"Very easily, it's all to do with age. Right now you're young and i'm old, but since i'm stuck in this age for eternity eventually we'll be around the same age, in looks at least. Then someday you'll be old and i'll be the one who looks young, which means it will come full circle in a sense." Celestia explained, causing Scootaloo to sigh.
"You make it sound like you've been dating me so that eventually your pedophilia will be passed onto me when i'm old." Scootaloo said with a slight hint of sadness in her voice, which caused Celestia to place on her forelegs around her lover to comfort her.
"It's not like that at all, i'm just having a hard time finding a way to explain our love in a way that all of the other ponies will understand and accept." Celestia explained and after a few seconds pause Scootaloo spoke.
"Well don't." The young pony said, causing Celestia to stare down at her in confusion.
"Don't what?' Celestia asked, causing Scootaloo to sigh in frustration.
"Don't explain it, just announce that we're together and announce the day of our wedding. Then we'll kiss and walk offstage, don't try to explain why because i'm pretty sure the fact that we're in love should be enough." Scootaloo explained through slightly tearful eyes, Celestia was about to say something when a guard lifted the curtain and spoke from from the stage area.
"Princess Luna has just called you on stage." The guard spoke as Celestia shot him a glare.
"Give us a minute." Celestia said calmly with an undertone of anger seeping through her voice, the guard looked at her in confusion before continuing.
"But princess, i'm sure you can help that pony with whatever problem she has after your..."
"Give us a minute." Celestia said again with a little more anger seeping through her voice, the guard sighed before trying in vain to persuade the princess to go on stage.
"If this is an issue I can arrange for that pony to be taken away, the fact that she got backstage is surely a sign that the guards aren't doing their..."
"She said we'll be out in a minute! Do what she says or i'll have you removed from the guard!" Scootaloo screamed through her now drying tears, the guard chuckled slightly at the pony's outburst and unwarranted claim.
"You don't have the authority to do that." The guard said with a smile that was returned with a slightly darker smile from Scootaloo.
"I don't have the power yet." Scootaloo said with a smile that sent chills through the guard's mind as he mentally tried to solve the puzzle based on the pieces he had been given, once he did his eyes went wide as he turned away from the two ponies.
"I'll tell princess Luna that you'll be out in a minute." The guard said quietly as he walked back out to the stage area. Celestia turned her head slightly to smile at Scootaloo who seemed to have cheered up by a great amount after her previous moment.
"Have you noticed that the guard didn't seem to have a problem with whom i've chosen to love?" Celestia asked with a smile that seemed to radiate onto Scootaloo who smiled back, her smile faded however as another thought came to her mind.
"Yes, but he works for you and has to accept it. What about the others who..."
"They are all part of the kingdom that I rule, I am in a sense the leader of every pony and creature in this kingdom. I don't mean to be brash, but I can do whatever I want and they will all be forced to find a way to deal with it." Celestia explained, with a sense of seriousness behind her words and a spark of fire in her eyes that told Scootaloo that she was serious. The young pony smiled and immediately hopped up from Celestia's comforting embrace and started walking towards the edge of the curtain that led towards the stage.
"Well then what are we waiting for." Scootaloo said with a smile as she gestured for princess Celestia to go on stage with her, the princess smiled as well as she walked up to her lover and gave her a gentle kiss on the lips before walking on stage to give an announcement that would likely change her life in Equestria forever.
Rainbow Dash was the perfect example of an idol to a young Scootaloo who spent most of her days trying to emulate her as best as she could to very little success. After about a year of trying to be like her idol in every possible way she seemed to fail, and every time she tried to impress her idol through a daring scooter stunt or on occasion a difficult dance she seemed to fail even worse. A lesser pony would have grown tired of the whole affair and moved on to something else in her life, but seeing as Scootaloo wasn't a lesser pony she didn't have any intention of moving on from her obsession.
Her viewpoint changed however when she was granted a glimpse at heaven nearly a year later in the form of a much older pony who had decided to take time out of her busy schedule to visit Ponyville for a few days. Scootaloo, along with many residents of the town, had no idea that the goddess of the sun was staying among them. Scootaloo only found out when she stumbled upon her idol and a crowd of her friends huddled together in the back of an alleyway, curiosity got the better of the young pony and she hid behind what appeared to be a pile of trash bags to see what the group was looking at.
When she saw the bright light and the mare who seemed to appear out of thin air, she couldn't help but to gasp in awe at her beauty. She had of course seen princess Celestia before, everybody had, but only in magazines, newspapers and the occasional textbook that her teacher made her read. The difference was that this time she was seeing the princess in the flesh for the very first time, and upon her realization of this revelation she quickly came to the conclusion that the many photos she had seen of her really didn't do her justice.
Scootaloo was always an obsessive sort of pony, and after that experience in the alleyway her obsessive mind turned to the mare she had been captivated by. She still obsessed over trying to be like Rainbow Dash, but that goal had switched priorities in her mind with her top priority now being to covet the object of her desires, princess Celestia.
But to say that was a smooth path would be sadly mistaken, as she heard Twilight Sparkle say on numerous occasions while she was spying on her to try to get information on her obsession, the princess had never dated or even showed interest in anyone romantically for at least 700 years. After giving that revelation night after night Twilight would then start to quietly sob, which was Scootaloo's cue to leave her hiding space and go back to her home since it was at that point that the unicorn would stop saying useful information out loud and merely cry until she eventually became too fatigued to continue and went to sleep.
Her obsession with the princess was rewarded when she was 14 and Celestia had agreed to chaperone a high school dance two towns away from Ponyville. She received this information from Twilight who seemed to be just as dedicated to her pursuit of the princess as Scootaloo herself was. This was actually part of the reason for her obsession with winning the affections of the princess, in the sense that for her it was a competition.
So when Twilight borrowed one of Applejack's apple wagon's to travel towards the dance Celestia was chaperoning Scootaloo snuck in the back and hid inside a large basket of apples. When Twilight reached the town Scootaloo climbed out of the wagon and walked to the high school, which she was surprised to learn was locked due to the fact that the dance was supposed to start a little more then an hour later. Upon a small amount of investigation she found out that the reason Twilight had come early was to purchase a gift for the princess in one of the stores in the town. Since Scootaloo hadn't brought any money to get the princess a similar gift she simply wandered throughout the town and waited for the school to open.
When it did she immediately walked inside, only to meet up with one of the many flaws in her plan. She needed a ticket, and had no money to buy one.
She mentally committed suicide as she sat outside the school and cried at how stupid she had been to forget to bring money to buy a ticket to the dance. In her sadness she had almost ignored a shadow that had appeared to cover her completely, the key word being almost.
"Would you mind moving along, I kind of want to be alone right now." The young pony spoke through her uncharacteristic tears that had spread quickly down her face.
"Well if you wish to be alone, then I will leave you to your sadness." The pony spoke from behind her in a voice that made her almost leap out of her skin. She turned around and faced the concerned looking princess Celestia with Twilight Sparkle a few feet behind her giving Scootaloo a look of confusion, which was to be expected considering that she was presently a few hours away from her home and was crying in front of a school she had never before stepped inside.
"I forgot my ticket!" Scootaloo blurted out of the blue, which truly surprised her as she didn't think about the sentence before saying it out loud, she really didn't know why she said the words. Since she didn't know how the princess would react to her shortened explanation of her problem she simply looked away in embarassment. There was a slight pause before the princess broke the silence.
"Then allow me to remedy the situation." The princess spoke in an almost non-chalant voice that made it seem like the words merely fell out of her mouth without even a minuscule effort of thought going into them. The innocent words filled Scootaloo's young mind with thoughts about the princess somehow entering her mind and finding out about her obsession with her, which led to somewhat lewd thoughts about how the princess was offering to 'remedy' the situation. By the time Celestia opened her mouth once again to reveal her true motives less than 2 seconds later a full makeout scene had played out in Scootaloo's mind, complete with a jealous Twilight staring in horror at the two.
Celestia's remedy, as it turned out, was simply that the princess would purchase Scootaloo's ticket at the door of the school where the dance was being held. The school gladly accepted Celestia's money and Scootaloo believed she was walking on air at the belief that her dream would come true. That she would be able to ask the object of her obsession to share a slow dance with her.
Her youthful hopes sagged however when the first slow song started playing throughout the gymnasium, and as she started walking over to ask Celestia to dance with her, Twilight was already there and already dancing with the princess. Scootaloo couldn't help but to glare at the doped-up look in Twilight's eyes as she lived her dream. Scootaloo's ambition took a blow, but she simply shook it off and decided to just be quicker the second time.
When the second time came, she was once again too late. Only this time instead of Twilight Sparkle, her unknown rival, dancing with the princess a handsome red male pony had apparently got to the princess before her, and the purple pony in question sat sulking at a corner of the gym watching the two as they enjoyed their dance. It gave her a short lived selfish happiness to know that this time she wasn't the only one depressed over Celestia' choice in dance partners this time.
The third was when Scootaloo got lucky, she just happened to be right beside the princess at the time that the third slow song of the evening started playing. To her it felt like the stars had aligned to make the moment possible as she nervously asked the princess to share a slow dance with her at the dance.
After the dance Scootaloo found herself disappointed with the briefness of it. She chastised herself mentally for the fact that she had been so intoxicated in the dance and of the feel of Celestia's mane that she had let the moment slip by her so fast. She had allowed the moment to slip through her metaphorical fingers without even bothering to say a word or make a semi-flirtacious move on the object of her dreams. It angered her so much that she was tempted to just leave the gym at that very second and start walking all the way back to Ponyville. Of course, fate had another plan for her that night, as she was soon to find out.
"Was that dance worth a two hour long ride in a cramped wagon?" Celestia asked with a light mischievous smile playing on her lips as she spoke, causing Scootaloo's mouth to gape open in surprised and her cheeks to turn a bright shade of red.
"How did you know?" Scootaloo asked, receiving a chuckle from the princess.
"There is very little that I don't know that happens in this kingdom. I know pretty much everything, I know about Twilight's crush on me, I know about the pop quiz your teacher plans to give tomorrow, and I know about your obsession with me that you've carried for at least 2 years." Princess Celestia said with a strange mixture of amusement and seriousness. Scootaloo bit her lip in embarrassment at the fact that the princess apparently already knew about her crush on her.
"It was...short." Scootaloo responded as best as she could. She didn't want to say anything bad to offend the princess or anything too good to creep her out more than she suspected she was already by her. The princess only gave her a slight smile as she walked over to whisper in her ear.
"Than we'll have to make it a little longer next time." The princess spoke with a voice that confused Scootaloo as to the meaning behind the words she had spoken. The words haunted the young pony for the entire rest of the dance and the silent ride home on the apple wagon with her rival in love.
